Children of the Key
by Ahnalisa
Summary: One year has passed since the closing of Kingdom Hearts and Sora, Donald, and Goofy, along with some new and old friends, travel across the Universe searching for Mickey, Riku, and the Door. But things begin to stir up with theuir arrival to Twilight Tow
1. The Arrival to Twilight Town

**Anne: **At last! I finally have my newly edited chapter back! Yippee!

**Ashley: **Yeah, yeah start the story already!

**Sora: **Get on with it!

**Leon: **Get on with it!

**Disclaimer: **Anne does not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters, though she has kidnapped two of them from Squaresoft and Disney.

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**Chapter One: _The Arrival to Twilght Town_**

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we—"

"NO!" Squalled Donald Duck, a mage duck dressed in a blue outfit that could be best described as that of a sailor's.

Sora, the fifteen-year-old Keyblade Master, with spiky brunette hair and brilliant sky-blue eyes grinned slyly. "Just checking," he said.

The trio, Sora, Donald, and Goofy (the Captain of the Royal Knights) were currently somewhere in deep space, on their way to Twilight Town, where Leon back in Traverse Town, told them was the best place to start looking for King Mickey and Riku, both of whom had not been heard of since Kingdom Hearts had been closed a year ago. Over the past year, though, Sora and his comrades have been hunting down rouge Heartless and searching for the King and Riku. But even that didn't stop Sora from growing up. Eventually he had to get new clothes and shoes or else he would have to go around naked for Christ's sake!

Sora's new duds weren't that bad, though. A navy blue and red shirt under a black jacket that was similar to his old one and black shorts with yellow bands criss-crossing over each other on his legs. Black, fingerless gloves and yellow and black shoes adorned his hands and feet. Despite these changes, Sora still attained his crown medallion and the chain that hung down on his hip.

"You got 30 seconds till you're off," the young Keyblade Master announced to Donald, who was piloting the Gummi ship.

Donald gulped. Not because he was getting booted off the pilot's seat any second now, but because of who was going to replace him once his shift was over.

"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. BLAST OFF!" Yelled a rather enthusiastic Sora.

"Yippee!" Cheered Goofy.

Donald let go of the controls and somewhat reluctantly got out of the pilot's seat. Sora was sitting in it in a heartbeat.

"Please keep all hands, feet, wings, and ears in side the gummi ship at all times. We will be arriving in Twilight Town shortly," the brunette said to no one in particular as he flipped a few switches and pressed a couple buttons

_2 hours later_

"Twilight Town dead ahead!" Sora announced to his comrades.

No response.

Looking back, the fifteen-year-old saw Goofy looking a bit woozy and Donald clutching his chair as if his life depended on it.

"Aw… c'mon! It wasn't _that_ bad was it?" the teen pouted.

Goofy only shaded a few colors more green and Donald looked like he was going to explode into a jillion pieces of guts and feathers.

"DAMNIT, SORA! LOOK WHERE YOUR GOING!" the short-tempered duck practically screamed as Sora snapped back to piloting the gummi ship.

After a somewhat rough landing, and Goofy had thrown up, the trio entered Twilight Town from the train station.

"Wow," Goofy gasped as Sora blew a low whistle, "This place is mighty big. Do you think we can find the King and Riku here?"

"Of course!" scoffed Sora, "They're probably wandering around somewhere."

"King Mickey does not just wander!" Donald protested against the way Sora talked about his King.

Sora sensing another "Donald rant" started walking out of the train station towards the Clock Tower, which stood out like a candle in a dark room. "Hey, why don't we check out that building over there?" he asked pointing at the Clock Tower. Goofy nodded in agreement while Donald continued his rant not giving any sign he had heard Sora.

"C'mon Donald!" said Goofy as he tapped Donald on the shoulder to let him know they were moving on. "Besides, Sora isn't even listening anymore."

Still grumbling, the duck followed his friends wondering why the King had put him up to this.

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"Look! Look Sekou! The shooting stars!" a girl shouted, almost falling from her perch on the highest ledge of the Clock Tower.

"Wow, cool!" a boy with black hair that stood straight up on his head due to a blue and white headband exclaimed.

Sekou gazed at the meteor wondering. He knew what falling stars meant, the world barrier was down, but surely not here in Twilight Town?

"You okay, Sekou?" asked Haru, a sixteen-year-old with dirty blonde hair and jungle green eyes, looking at the dazed expression on his best friend's face with concern. Ever since Sekou returned to Twilight Town, he's been acting different than before the fifteen-year-old left.

"Huh?" said Sekou as he snapped out of his trance, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Good! 'Cuz I wanna get a picture of this!" Haru stated, taking out his camera.

"Aw… Haru! Not another picture!" complained Kocha, the boy with the black hair.

"It's not _that_ bad, guys!" chipped in Sakura, the only girl in their gang.

Sekou and Kocha still groaned. But when Haru raised the camera, they smiled anyways (might as well look good in a picture). Then, quite suddenly, Sakura's phone rang, startling the guys.

"You gotta turn that thing off sometime!" scolded Sekou.

Sakura made a face as she answered her phone.

"Hello? Oh, hi! Yeah, I'll be right there!"

Hanging the mobile phone up, the brunette turned to look at here guy friends who were yawning and looking at invisible watches that weren't there.

"Ha ha, very funny," she said, "By the way my mom wants me home, so I gotta go. See ya!" With that, the fourteen-year-old stood up and walked to the stairs that led to the Clock Tower's exit.

"Later."

"Bye."

"See ya 'round."

Taking one last look at the meteor shower, Sakura waved good-bye and headed down the stairs.

The boys stayed up on the ledge for about another hour before they trooped back inside and talked about "guy stuff" (girls, food, what you would do if you had a million munny, etc.). Eventually, Kocha left for home, leaving Haru and Sekou alone.

"Hey, Sekou?" Haru asked as he sketched in his sketchbook that he took practically everywhere with him. Haru was an awesome artist. He could draw almost anything you told him to. Once he even made a comic about his friends in the Clock Tower.

"Hm?" replied Sekou; nearly falling off the crate he was sittingon.

"Are you still having those dreams? You know, the ones about you protecting the 'Keyblade Master'?"

Sekou was silent for a moment. Yes, he was still having those dreams about protecting the Keyblade Master, but the latest one, (which was last night in fact) had been quite confusing. "Yes. And I think they're getting worse, Haru."

Haru nodded knowingly, and taking up his pencil and paper, he said, "Tell me about it."

"Well, it begins and everything's all black and still," Sekou started, "Then, I see a woman just standing there with a light shining on her."

"What does this woman look like?" asked Haru as his pencil sketched lines madly on the paper.

"She had long, red hair that went to her waist, it was tied up in a high ponytail, too. Her eyes werebright forest green, and almond shaped. She wore a white habit-like robe with a red cord tied around her waist. There was a scabbard with a long knife there, too."

"What was her expression like?"

Sekou thought for a minute. "You could hardly see it, but she seemed to be pleased about something."

"Did she say anything?" Haru pressed on, still drawing.

"Yes," replied Sekou, "she said her name was Fortuna and that she has been given the duty to urge me to find the Keyblade Master. It was pointless, though, cuz I don't have any leads or clues whatsoever on where this 'Keyblade Master is! Then suddenly, she challenged me to fight her."

"Did you?" asked Haru curiously.

"Yeah. I didn't want to, but yeah," scoffed Sekou, obviously not liking the next part of the dream. "I drew my keyblades, the Oblivion and Oathkeeper, you know, and she drew her long dagger. Suddenly the scenery changed and we were in a desert or somewhere like that. She attacked first with that dagger and nearly got me by a hair. We battled until she started using magic on me. Everything felt so real, the heat of the sun, the sand under my feet, even the attacks I couldn't evade felt just as real as if I were awake."

"Who won the match?" inquired Haru, pausing briefly from his sketching of Sekou's dream.

"Neither," he said, "I was on the ground and she was about to deal the final blow when I woke up."

The boys sat in silence as Haru finished up his sketching. When he was done he showed it to Sekou, who was surprised to how much resemblance the drawings had to the actual "people" (if you could call them that) Sekou had described.

"Wow, Haru! You outdid yourself this time for sure!" complimented Sekou.

"Heh. You haven't seen it yet! Wait till I fine tune it!" Haru smirked.

Sekou smirked back, "Then wait I will do."

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**Anne: **Whew! That was a lot of typing for me! (Most I've done in like a jillion years!)

**Sora: **it was only five pages, Anne!

**Ashley: **Yeah! Think about the original written draft you did! Eleven pages! And all the editing I had to do to slave away at this for! Then you practically change the entire thing!

**Anne: **(Looks at written draft, then at typed version) You're right! This is way different! Look how much I cut out and rearranged!

**Leon: **god let me out of here!

**Ashley: **(glomps Leon) Oh, you don't mean that do you, Squally?"

**Leon: **that's Leon. And let go of me!

**Anne: **It will make me very happy if you review and tell me whether or not if I should continue.

**Sora: **Anne would also like to thank her reviewers on her other stories/ poems!

**Everybody: **Ja ne!


	2. Dreams and Realities

**Anne: **I'm back here with another chapter!

**Ashley: **And we like to thank the reviewers now, too!

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**_LittleYugiBoy:_** Thank you for being the first reviewer and I read your story, I really like where it's going!

**_UnfortunateVendetta:_** Your pleas for another chapter have been answered. And sorry about my choppy descriptions, I'm working on them.

**_Heavenly Ash Tree:_** Thanks for reviewing!

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**Sora: **Just begin the bloody chapter already!

**Anne: **Fine!

Chapter Two: _Nasty Dreams and Realities_

_Sora was in a dark place. There was no walls or ceiling. Only a floor invisible through a thick fog that rose a foot from the floor. He took three steps when less than two feet ahead of him appeared…_

"_Kairi?"_

She stood there. Just as beautiful as the last time Sora saw her on the newly restored Destiny Islands. She didn't respond, only smiled to his question. Her crimson hair fluttered in a breeze that wasn't there.

_Sora stepped closer to her. He cupped her delicate face in his gloved hands. Staring deep into her eyes, he searched for the love and warmth the blue-violet orbs usually possessed. But they looked…empty._

_Suddenly, a white-hot pain shot through his chest, where Sora's heart was. Looking down, and to his horror, the teenager saw a hand plunged deep into his chest, clutching his very heart. It felt as though they were trying to tear Sora's heart out._

_The Keyblade Master looked back up and into the face of not Kairi, but his best friend._

_Riku._

_He grinned a truly evil grin. Sora felt a powerful force erupt from Riku's hand inside his chest and was sent flying back on to the foggy floor. He landed with a loud thud and skidded a bit._

_Somewhat relieved that no one was trying to rip his heart out, Sora looked up at Riku. His turquoise eyes were as empty as Kairi's had been. He raised a white-gloved hand, Sora noticed that Riku was wearing Ansem's clothes, and squeezed it into a fist._

_Once again, Sora felt an incredibly excruciating pain in his heart._

"_Enter the darkness, Keyblade Master."_

_Pools of darkness formed under the Keyblade Master as he hunched over from pain. "Never!" he shouted as the frigid tendrils wrapped themselves around his body. _

"_I won't ever turn to the Darkness!"_

"NEVER!"

Looking around, Sora relaxed. He was in the hotel room in Twilight Town, not the eerie place in his dream. The teen was currently on the floor wrapped like a mummy in his blanket. A result from when you have a bad dream when you sleep on the couch.

"What a wacko dream," the fifteen year old mumbled to himself, massaging the bump on his head where he hit the coffee table. He walked out to the balcony. There a relaxing breeze ruffled his spiky, brunette locks and cooled his hot skin. He looked up at the velvety dark sky which tiny stars strewn over it like diamonds. _"Wonder which star Riku and Kairi are on…'_ he idly thought.

After a few minutes, the teen went back inside and prepared a midnight snack of doughnuts and hot cocoa. While he was eating, he read _The Twilight Times_, Twilight Town's local newspaper, for any information on strange happenings such as heartless sightings or something along those lines. When he was done, Sora did what almost all fifteen-year-old boys do when they just ate: sleep.

Sora felt as though his head had just touched the pillow when the shrill voice of Donald Duck screeched, "Get up, you lazy ass!"

"I don't wanna," the half-asleep boy grunted, burying his face deeper into the pillow. He protested with more grunts when Donald ripped the blankets off of the young Keyblade Master.

"C'mon!" he ordered, pulling on Sora's messy hair, "We've got work to do!" Sora retaliated by attempting to hide his head under the pillow. Giving up, Donald gave in to the last resort. He let go of Sora's hair and backed up, knowing how this worked. The duck cleared his throat and cried alarmingly,

"SORA! THE HEARTLESS ARE HERE!"

"WHAT!" the teen shouted, leaping up and drawing his Keyblade. He looked around for any heartless, and slowly his face changed from alarm to confusion. "Donald, where are the heartless?"

Donald, who was laughing so hard he was crying, couldn't respond. Sora, catching on what had happened, turned from confused to somewhat curious/annoyed.

"You did the heartless trick again, didn't you?"

Before Donald answered, Goofy came into view wearing a white apron and a chef's hat. "Breakfast is ready!" he announced cheerily, despite the looks his friends were shooting at each other.

Once the breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and orange juice was eaten, the trio set out for another day looking for Mickey and Riku in Twilight Town. Of course, Sora hadn't really forgiven Donald for playing the heartless trick on him again, so they got into a lot of fights over rather petty things like who was smarter, where to go next if Mickey and Riku weren't here, and which direction to go.

"I say we take a left," Sora stated as he, Donald, and Goofy neared a fork at the end of the alleyway they were walking down.

"No," said Donald, "We're going right."

The two glared at each other to the point where if looks could kill, they'd be six feet under.

Goofy, seeing another 'Sora vs. Donald' go-arounds decided he should step in before the duck and boy rip each other into shreds. "Why don't we spilt up and meet somewhere else at the end of the day?" the knight suggested.

Sora and Donald stopped their glaring contest to consider the suggestion. The plan was convenient because Sora and Donald wouldn't be fighting over everything because they won't be near each other and more of Twilight Town would be covered in one day.

"Where would we meet?" asked Donald.

Goofy thought for a moment. But before he could answer, Sora did for him, "The Clock Tower. You can see it from any point in the city, I bet, so it won't be hard to find."

The others nodded in agreement and went their separate ways, Goofy and Donald to the right, and Sora to the left. Less than five minutes later, Sora found himself on a crowded street full of busy people. Walking along, he noticed what Donald called a train passing on the tracks overhead.

"Watch where you're going, kid!" a man scolded as he bumped into the teen.

"Sorry," Sora replied rather distractedly. He was staring up at the tall building and cars and other modern day things that Sora was all brand new to. Being on a tropical island where the most transportation objects you need are boats and bicycles did have some drawbacks.

The man whom Sora had accidentally ran into walked off briskly, mumbling something about kids theses days. Returning to _his_ business, Sora continued walking down the street, keeping an eye peeled for any heartless, Mickey, or Riku.

Around noon, Sora's stomach began grumbling, demanding to be fed. Remembering a café he passed none too long ago, the boy backtracked until he sighted a sign lit up by neon lights that said CAFÉ. (pretty obvious, huh?)

He walked up the steps, when suddenly something caught the Keyblade Master's eye. Sora turned his head and strained his sky blue eyes on something in an alleyway near the Café. More specifically on the crates near the mouth of the alley. Even more specifically on the shadowy gap between the crates and the wall.

The fifteen-year-old would've thought it was his empty stomach giving him hallucinations. That he was just being paranoid. I mean, what kind of shadow has glowing, yellow eyes? Simple.

A heartless.

And if there's one, there's bound to be some of its buddies somewhere nearby.

"Oh, crap," Sora cursed as he forgot his hunger and approached the Shadow, that stared at him hungrily with those empty eyes before flattening itself and scurrying away.

**Anne: **This is my Valentine's Day gift to all of you! Happy Valentine's Day!

**Ashley: **R&R pleez!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX!


	3. The Siege of Twilight Town, prt 1

**Anne:** Back here with another chappie in CotK! Sorry for not updating fro awhile…it's been hecktek!

**Ashley the Editior:** And the fact you've been too lazy to type up all the chapters you've been writing.

**Anne: **(sweatdrop) eheh…

**_Meenie Disclaimer:_** Anne does not own Kingdom Hearts because Square and Disney are the lucky meenies who do.

**Anne: **And now to chapter three!

**Chapter Three: _The Siege of Twilight Town part I_**

As Haru walked through the wooden doors into the cool shade of the Clock Tower he had two things on his mind: what ever happened to the right to sleep-in and why the hell did he get up so early. It was like 10 a.m., you see, which is pretty early on a Saturday morning during the summer for the average sixteen-year-old. But in truth, it wasn't his fault. Sakura must've thought that Haru was abnormal or something, because she called at like 9 a.m. and asked if he and the boys (Sekou and Kocha) would like to meet up with her for lunch. Hoping she'll hang up if he said yes, he agreed. Well, since he was up now, Haru couldn't really fall back asleep. So without really anything to do, he decided to walk to the tower and hang out with Sekou, who most likely wasn't up yet.

And so this is where Haru found himself. Climbing up the Clock Tower stairs to the room Sekou slept in. Unsurprisingly, the fifteen-year-old was still asleep. With a snicker Haru plucked at Sekou's golden strands of hair, thinking it will wake the sleeping teen up. He remained motionless. Surprised, Haru then talked in a loud voice to him saying, "Oh, wake up, Sleeping Beauty! It's the time that we call the morning where people WAKE UP!"

Still Sekou slept on. He didn't grunt, roll over, or show any signs of even sensing Haru's presence or loud shouts. Getting worried, Haru grabbed his shoulder and shook him hard. It was as futile as taking on a million monsters with a butter knife as your only weapon. Now really worried, Haru pulled out his cell phone and dialed Kocha's number. The fourteen-year-old, answered with a very groggy, "'Lo?"

"Koch," said Haru, "it's Haru. I need you to come to the Clock Tower pronto! It's very important."

Kocha must've caught the urgency in his friend's voice for he said, "I'll be there in a few." And hung up.

True to his words, Kocha arrived less than 25 minutes later. Any second later Haru thought he might've gone crazy. "What's wrong?" Kocha asked noting the look of anxiety on his friend's face.

"Sekou's like in a comma or something," Haru explained. "He won't wake up or do anything…he's just lying there."

Kocha went over to take a look at the supposedly sleeping teen. Like Haru, he gave him a shake. And like before, Sekou didn't respond. Kocha pinched him hard on the arm. No response. Suddenly an idea popped into his head that involved a bucket and some water.

"Haru, can you fetch me a bucket of water?"

At older teen looked quizzically at Kocha, but soon caught on to what he was thinking. "Sure," he said and ran of to fetch the water.

A minute later, the sixteen-year-old walked in carrying a heavy bucket of freezing cold water. With some help from Kocha, the two positioned it in between them. Together they lifted the bucket higher and poured the contents out over Sekou's sleeping form. In the past Haru and Kocha did this to Sekou and had a kick out of how he jolted awake shouting, even though in the end, they had to suffer the consequences of his wrath. But instead of a furious blonde leaping literally six feet into the air and hollering for all he was worth at the two others, he just laid there like a corpse. He didn't even show any signs of feeling freezing cold water cascading upon him.

"Haru," said Kocha worriedly, "I don't think anything's working. Maybe we should call Sakura?"

Haru scowled. "What good will it do?"

Kocha thought for a minute and, as much as he hated to admit it, saw what Haru meant. What _could_ Sakura do? "Maybe the hospital?"

Haru was about to respond when a groan interrupted him. Whipping his head around, the sixteen year old saw the once sleeping Sekou starting to wake up. "I don't think that's necessary," the teen replied.

Sekou opened his eyes and found both Haru and Kocha looking at him anxiously with obvious relief. "Good to know you finally woke up, man!" Haru said sighing. Not exactly getting what was going on, Sekou scratched his head in confusion and noted the fact that he was soaking wet. "Why am I wet?"

Haru and Kocha exchanged sheepish grins. "Well, uh, Haru here said that you weren't waking up, so, uh, I thought that we could try that stunt we pulled on you awhile ago with the water bucket and—"

"And you didn't wake or do anything. You just kinda laid there like a dead fish," Haru continued. "Are you feeling alright, Sekou?" he asked looking his friend directly in the eye.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sekou responded waving his hand like it was no big deal. 'Since when have I been such a heavy sleeper?' he thought to himself.

"Anyways, why have you come so early in the morning if not to wake me up?" asked the fifteen year old, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh, that. Well, I got this lovely wake up call this morning from the ever so abnormal early-bird that we all know as Sakura requesting that we meet her up for lunch at the Café today. And I'm sure Kocha got the call, but knowing how you don't have a phone of any shape, size, or form, I felt it was my duty to tell you this," said Haru. "And I had nothing better to do."

The whole room sat in silence for ten minutes, processing what Haru had said. Or at least in Sekou's case. Having just woken up, he really wasn't into thinking at a fast and complicated pace. "What time is it?" asked Kocha suddenly.

Haru checked his watch. "11:45. Why?"

Sekou and Kocha looked at Haru's confused expression quizzically. "Aren't we supposed to go to lunch, Haru?"

The confusion was replaced almost instantly by shock, then by alarm, then by what appeared to be a mix of annoyance and frustration. "Did it really take that long!" the older boy scolded himself. Sparing a glance at Sekou and his drenched clothes, he said in a much more teasing tone, "You should put on some dry clothes, buddy." And laughed at the blonde's furious pout/scowl.

Once Sekou was dressed in dry clothes, the trio of Sekou, Haru, and Kocha headed out of the Clock Tower to meet Sakura for lunch.

---

On a whole other world, the witch smirked. "The pieces are falling into place," she said to the others in the Council Room. "I thank you for giving me your time to gather here for this meeting. But I promise you, I will not take long."

A murmur ran through the crowd as one of the Council members stood up. "I've heard that you have been keeping tabs on the Keyblade Master, but what of the other two?" a male voice full of malice questioned.

"I see that you have been well informed even though haven't been able to attend many meetings," the witch said. "But as for your question, our sources indicate that the Key Bearer is currently on the same world as the Guardian. As for the Keeper, I cannot answer that."

"I thought you said you had been searching for the Keeper last time we met," another voice, this time a woman's said.

The witch looked at the speaker and said calmly, "The Organization has hidden all three of them well. It was a pure stroke of luck to find the Keyblade Master this soon. As for the Guardian, he vanished ever since he broke away from the Organization."

"And the Keeper?"

"I have a sense that we'll find her in the near future."

The sound of a door opening indicated someone entering the room. The newcomer walked to the center of the room and looked straight at the witch with her lavender eyes. "The stage is set. All we need is your command to start."

The witch nodded and said, "Let it begin."

The mysterious woman bowed and vanished in a swirl of smoke.

---

Meanwhile, back in Twilight Town, Sora was pursuing the heartless relentlessly. It had led him down the alley and through many twists and turns, which was strange because heartless almost never ran away but stayed and fought. They weren't exactly very smart.

"Come back here you…" the brunette didn't finish as he ran straight into a girl his age carrying several shopping bags. The result was Sora landing hard on his back and groaning about what a bad day this had been. The girl's shopping bags went flying, spilling their contents (clothes, shoes, etc.,) all over the alleyway.

"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry! I should've looked…" she slowed down as Sora sat up, rubbing his head. "Sekou?"

"Who?" the brunette asked, still rubbing his head.

The girl blushed and quickly said, "Oh, uh, nothing. You just look like a friend of mine. That's all!" 'Too much like a friend of mine.' she thought darkly.

Sora still looked at her confused, but shrugged it off. After all, it was none of his business. He scanned the alley way for any heartless and sighed in relief when he sensed none.

"What were you chasing?" the girl asked.

Surprised, the fifteen year old quickly thought up a lie. "Oh, um, I was chasing my…cat. Yeah my cat. He ran down the alley and I was trying to catch him," Sora grinned his goofy grin that wiped the suspicious look off the girl's face. "by the way, I'm Sora. And you are…?"

"I'm Sakura."

"Well, Sakura," said Sora grinning again, "it was nice to meet you, even though it was a little sudden. I hope we meet again!" With that he turned around and was about to walk off when a nice big horde of shadow heartless appeared from the ground. Behind him he could hear Sakura scream. 'Why today?' Sora thought to himself as the Keyblade appeared in his hand.

**Anne: **I have some announcements! 1) thank you to all the reviewers who reviewed! especially _**LYB**_ and _**auroraluvse**_! 2) auroraluvse, Ash will be writing more thruout the year don't worry! and as for the matrix thing, i don't think i'll be able to put that in in this story, maybe in the sequel (yes there will be a sequel if u ppl want one!) 3) as most of you have figured out, when Sora starts visiting different worlds, he won't just be going to Disney worlds. I'll include some book, game, and anime worlds, too, along with some i made up. 4) also, another person has joined the author's notes cast: inttroducing...Shiro!

**Shiro:** yo

**Anne: **and 5) as a forshadowing warning there will be alot of OCs as this fic continues...so be warned!

**Ash:** Anne keeps all of her reviews close to her heart. and she'll try to use any advice given to her by the reviewer. so please join the Review Our Stories (ROS) cause and review today!

**Anne, Ashley, Sora, and Shiro: **Ja ne!


	4. The Siege of Twilight Town, prt 2

**Anne: **Yay! Another chappie! Some Ocs will be appearing in this chapter so (breaks in to song) BE PREPAAAARED! (you kno, like in lion king?)

**Ashley the editor:** you're an idiot.

**Shiro:** yeah

**Anne: **(pouts) meenies…

I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS!

**Chapter Four: _The Siege of Twilight Town part 2_**

'Why today?' Sora thought to himself as the Keyblade appeared in his hand. The heartless stopped and glared at the Keyblade Master with what would've been hateful glares if their eyes weren't blank golden orbs. Sakura stared too, it's not like everyday you see a guy with a giant key for a sword.

"Wha-"

"It's called the Keyblade," said Sora never taking his eyes of the shadow heartless.

"I know that!" the girl said. "I want to know what are you doing with one!"

The brunette boy froze up. "How do you know about the keyblade?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

"I-"

The heartless, seemingly tired of the chitchat, leaped at Sora before Sakura could finish what she was saying. He easily blocked and killed it with a swing of the keyblade, but more came after it. "Tell me later," he said as he uppercutted one in the air. Another came at his side but the brunette smashed its head with the hilt of his weapon.

Sakura, meanwhile, stuck close to Sora, but far away enough so he could maneuver the keyblade easily without hitting her. "We need to get out of here!" she cried seeing the seemingly endless sea of black and shadowy bodies and glowing eyes.

"Do you know somewhere that's safe from them!" Sora shouted back irritably. He had been in worse situations before, but in those times he wasn't protecting a helpless (not to mention weaponless) person. Donald and Goofy can take care of themselves, along with all the others on those other worlds out there. But Twilight Town doesn't seem to have many, if any, fighters residing here. And if there are, Sakura certainly wasn't one of them.

"I think we can try the Clock Tower," the girl suggested. Hopefully Sekou and the others were safe.

---

"Guys, stand back!" Sekou warned his friends, Haru and Kocha, as the shadow heartless appeared in front of them. The blonde teenager got into a fighting stance as his dual keybaldes- the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper- were summoned to his hands in flashes of purple-black and white light. Kocha gapped at the beautiful, but deadly weapons. Haru, having seen them before already, had enough sense to keep his head and pull Kocha back with him.

Sekou charged at the heartless and met them head on. His keyblades easily sliced through them as if they were air. But more seemed to just keep coming. Soon Sekou was covered in small nicks from the shadows' sharp claws that he could not evade. Fortunately, none have been able to get past the blonde and on to Haru and Kocha, who were totally defenseless. 'Find something to defend self with. That's first on the list!' Both boys thought at almost the same time.

Looking around wildly, Haru spotted a broom and a mop lying on the ground by a now abandoned store. He raced over there, dodging a stray heartless and grabbed the two cleaning utensils. "Kocha!" the older blonde yelled as he tossed the broom over to the younger boy, who caught it. Adjusting the mop so that he could use it effectively, Haru worked his way back over to his friends by swinging the mop around, cutting a path through the heartless.

All during this time, Sekou was covering his friends. The blonde was covered in scratches from the shadowy claws and a nasty looking gash bleed freely from his right arm. He looked over to check on Haru and Kocha. Both were fine and holding off pretty well with only a mop and a broom. But what neither of the two noticed was a larger heartless (what Sora knows as a Large Body) preparing to attack Haru from behind.

"Haru duck!" shouted Sekou as he threw the Oathkeeper as a boomerang in a deadly accurate Strike Raid. The Large Body burst into shadowy particles upon impact. "Guys, I think we need to find somewhere safe to hide out in," Sekou said as the remaining heartless began to fade back into the shadows. "Something bad's gonna happen soon. I can feel it."

Haru and Kocha looked at him oddly, but after what just happened, it was better to listen to what he said rather than question him. Besides, he wasn't looking all that good. The fifteen-year-old's naturally pale skin was even paler than usual and he was covered in scratches. He must've been exhausted. The two nodded.

"Where should we go?" asked Kocha looking around him for signs of the dark creatures.

"I vote the Clock Tower," said Haru. "It's nearest and it's pretty much the only option. What do you say, Sekou?"

The younger blonde in question was about to answer when he felt the dead weight of unconsciousness settle on his tired body. All he could was nod before slumping to the ground, seeing only a quiet darkness.

---

_He laid on the hard floor of the misty chamber. A pleasantly cool fog created drops of water on his hot skin and dampened his wild, blonde hair. He stood up and found that the mist was only two feet high and he wasn't in a room, but out in the open under a starlit sky._

_"It is good to see you here, Wielder of Two Keys," said a soft and emotionless voice._

_A few feet away from were he stood was a woman covered in a cloak the color of a deep purple, slightly silver in the starlight. Her face was hidden his the shadow of her hood. "Who are you?" the blonde bravely asked._

_"Who I am is of little importance as of now, child. What is more important is that you find the Keyblade Master. I cannot say much for time is little for the both of us."_

_Slightly put off by being called a child, Sekou replied, "So what is it that you want with me _

"_As I said, you must find the Keyblade Master and now is the opportune moment. Since Twilight Town is under attack and he is there, fighting against the heartless. You must show him the keyhole to that world. If you don't, it will be destroyed like countless others."_

"_How do I find him?" asked Sekou._

_The cloaked woman reached into her sleeves and pulled out a small, wrapped object. "He will come to you. **Stay where you are**. When you see him, show him the keyhole and give this to him. It may be worthless to you, but I believe the Keyblade Master will know what to do with it." At this point, Sekou guessed that the cloaked woman was smiling slightly._

"_Good luck in your quest, young Dual Wielder. And remember, show him where the keyhole is if you wish to have Twilight Town saved."_

_The mysterious woman faded away, leaving Sekou alone in the starlit land. He looked at the small package in his hand and then up at the starry sky. They twinkled down at him._

"_It's been awhile since I've seen so many stars in one sky…"_

---

Sekou woke up with a wet rag on his forehead and Haru and Kocha talking quietly in one corner. It took him a minute to realize that they were in the Clock Tower.

"Ugh… What happened?" he asked rubbing his slightly sore head.

Hearing his moan, Haru and Kocha were immediately at his side. "How ya doing, Sekou?" inquired Kocha.

"Fine," answered Sekou. "What happened?" he asked again.

"Well, you kinda just suddenly passed out," explained Haru. "We think it was just because you were tired or something."

"So we carried you to the Clock Tower," Kocha continued. "And when we got here, we did the best we could to stop the bleeding."

"And you've been out of it for about an hour now," said Haru looking at his watch.

"Is anyone else here?" Sekou asked.

"Nope."

His heart sank. What if Sakura got attacked by the shadowy monsters and got hurt, or killed, or… 'Stop thinking like that, Sekou!' he mentally scolded himself. 'She's okay. She has to be.'

The blonde sat up quickly, too quickly. The sharp pain of the scratches he received during his fight with the heartless brought him to the reality that he should heal himself before he goes out and plays the hero. Summoning the Oathkeeper, he pointed it vertically up and muttered, "Curaga." The pleasant feeling of the green light that washed over his body healed the wounds. Both Haru and Kocha gasped in awe at the magic as the emerald light faded, revealing a fully healed Sekou.

"How-"

"I'll explain later," Sekou cut him off. "You two just stay here. I'm going to go look for Sakura." He made his way over to the stairs.

"Hold it, Sekou," said Haru firmly. "What makes you think I'm gonna let you go back out there? After what just happened?"

Sekou looked at his best friend with a look between determination and irritation. "I've got to. Sakura's still out there and I'm gonna get her. There's nothing you can do to stop me, Haru, so don't try."

Haru glared lividly. Kocha stood beside the older blonde. "I agree with Haru. You wouldn't make it ten feet away from the Tower if you went out there. The whole place is surrounded. You need to look out a window before you go skipping outside. You need to stay where you are, Sekou."

Something triggered in the back of Sekou's mind.

_He will come to you. **Stay where you are**._

"Screw what she said," muttered Sekou angrily, turning and going down the stairs, ignoring Haru and Kocha's objections.

He was at the foot of the stairs when one of the large front doors of the tower burst open and was quickly shut.

"Sora, are you all right?" asked a very familiar voice.

"I'm fine, Sakura. Really," said another familiar voice. A really familiar voice. It sounded like an identical voice to his own. Only this one was currently riddled with pan and exhaustion.

"Sakura?" Sekou called out to the two figures, one was kneeling down by the other, who was slumped down at the base of the door.

"Sekou?" she replied a smile on her worried face. "Is it really you?"

"Duh," he said good-naturally walking to where she and the stranger were. Sakura was okay with just a few minor scratches that weren't any threat. The other, from what Sekou could see was covered in deep gashes and breathing heavily. His face was shadowed by the brunette bangs of his unruly hair. What he had in his hand though, was what sent chills down Sekou's spine. A keyblade.

The stranger chuckled all of a sudden, which turned into some coughing up of blood. Sakura yelped in concern and was about to try and help when he held up his silver keyblade and wheezed, "Curaga."

The spell healed him completely and he literally jumped to his feet, a huge grin on his face and laughing, sky blue eyes. Now he could see him clearly, Sekou could've sworn he was looking in a mirror at a tanner, and darker-haired reflection of himself. The brunette must've thought the same thing because he said, "Who are you?" at the exact same time as Sekou.

They stared at each other for a minute as if they were sizing each other up (even if they were the same height). The identical sapphire eyes met for a second then the two turned away. Sakura giggled. "You two are so weird," she said.

"Am not!" the look-alikes shouted at the same time. They glared at each other again. "Stop saying what I'm saying!" they yelled in unison.

"See what I mean?" said Sakura.

"What's all that racket down there?" called a voice up a few floors. The trio on the ground looked up to see Haru and Kocha leaning over the handrail and looking down on them.

"Hey Haru! Hey Kocha!" Sakura called up, waving at them. The two grinned and waved back.

A few minutes later, all five of the teenagers were sitting in the room where Sekou usually slept. Introductions were made and the small talk was brushed aside. Sakura turned and fixed Sekou with a hard stare. "You need to explain what's going on and why haven't you told me about your keyblades and most of all, how do we stop these…things from overrunning town?" She looked almost pleadingly at the blonde.

Sekou sighed. "I can't explain what's going on 'cuz I don't really know myself."

"Well why didn't you ever tell us about the keyblades?" asked Sakura.

"How did you know about them?" Sekou asked in response. "The only person I ever told was Haru." Haru looked down at the floor as Kocha shot him the 'why didn't you tell me?' look.

Sakura explained, "When I was at Haru's house awhile back, I was looking through his old sketch books. While I was leafing through one I came upon a page with drawings and notes of you and your keyblades. At first, I thought it was just Haru's imagination at work, but a few weeks later, I was going up to visit you when I heard you talking to Haru. Not wanting to intrude, I stayed out of the room. But my curiosity got the better of me when I heard Haru ask if he could see the keyblades. So I looked through the crack in the door and saw the keyblades appear out of nowhere in your hands. My question is, why did you tell Haru, but not Kocha and I?"

Sora, who was listening quietly the whole time answered for him. "Sometimes it is better to keep your keyblade hidden. The less people that know, the less chance of spies finding out about them."

The other four looked at him. "What makes you think that?" asked Kocha.

Sora grinned his usual goofy grin. "Simple. I'm a Key Bearer and everyone wants power. A keyblade possess a lot of power. So with all the wars going on, don't you think everyone will try to convert me to their side?"

"Sounds reasonable," Haru said with a shrug.

"So those things, were they after you and Sekou?"

Sora looked distant for a second then snapped out of it. "The heartless that are attacking could be here for a billion reasons. The most likely is to destroy this world and/or destroy me."

"Jolly old life, ain't it?" said Sekou sarcastically.

"Yup," replied Sora.

There was silence for a minute before Haru broke it. "So how do we stop this?"

Sora stood up and dusted his black shorts off, "Easy. Find and seal this world's keyhole."

_And remember, show him where the keyhole is if you wish to have Twilight Town saved._

"But where is it?" he muttered under his breath. "Where?"

**_Follow your heart._**

Not exactly sure what triggered that thought, Sekou decided to give it a wild shot. He relaxed and cleared his mind the best he could and searched through his heart. The blonde could feel the warmth of his keyblades safe within there, but could not find any directions to the keyhole.

'I need to relax more. I need to meditate like Master told me to when I was under his wing.' He thought. So once again he cleared his mind and shut his eyes. Not paying any attention to what was going on around him, he searched his heart with all his mind and soul. _Where is this world's keyhole?_ He asked. He asked his heart over and over again until a gentle tugging was pulling at his heart. Sekou opened his eyes to see a trail of golden particles floating in the air. Slowly he got up and followed the floating trail. Whether or not the others noticed, he didn't observe, he had to maintain all of his focus on the glittering trail.

Sora, Sakura, Haru, and Kocha did notice Sekou get up and leave, but unlike him, they couldn't see the golden trail. But Sora could sense a power calling him to follow. "You guys stay here," he said and followed the blonde teen up the stairs.

Sekou led Sora all the way to the very top floor of the Clock Tower. They walked outside onto the high ledge in front of the enormous clock. "This is it," said Sekou in a relaxed voice. "This is the keyhole to Twilight Town."

"Really? Wow, that was fast. How did you do that?" said Sora looking at the blonde.

He didn't respond. Instead he put his hands in his pocket and felt something like a wrapped package. Sekou pulled it out and saw the neatly wrapped item the cloaked woman wanted him to give to the Keyblade Master.

"Are you the Keyblade Master?" he asked.

Sora studied him for a second before answering, "Yes."

"Someone wanted me to give this to you. They said you'd know what to do with it." He tossed the package to the brunette. He looked it over and then unwrapped it. A crystal of a pale blue color rested in his palm. It radiated a cool aura.

"The Ice Crystal…" Sora whispered as the stone vanished in a flash of blue light. "A summoning gem."

Sekou watched this all with interest. This Sora was indeed an interesting person.

"Now," said the brunette teen, "why don't we seal this keyhole up?"

"How about not?" asked a deep and rich voice, riddled with malice and cruelty.

The two teens turned to see a rather unwelcome sight.

**Anne:** MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Another cliffie!

**Ash:** (dying from suspense) CURSE YOU!

**Shiro:** (sweat drop) You guys are both basket cases.

**Mob of People:** HEAR! HEAR!

**Anne: **Review pleez and I'll hurry up with the next chapter!


	5. The Keyhole

**Anne: **Time to respond to the reviewers!

**_Mr. Grae:_** First reviewer! woot! I meant to make them about equal, but I guess theoretically Sekou was out of practice while Sora has been able to fight almost daily.

**_ShadowSora65:_** Thanx a lot! Don't worry; I'm dead set on finishing this.

**_Auroramoon/ AuroraMoon101:_** Wow, the name proves it! Good job! The killed Chappie! (sob) I didn't really like him tho... I would write 24 fics if I could but I can't. Yup, I knew you'd be happy about Shiro. Did you have fun in Canadia? Congrats on getting a pen name!

**_Aramer/ Shirozora:_** BHK is a kick-ass dude! Yeah! (hi-fives Shirozora) p.s.I like your new pen name!

**Anne:** Anyways, on with the chapter!

I do not own KH or anything you've heard of in here except Sekou (his name) and the Unknown

**Chapter 5: _The Keyhole_**

"How about not?" asked a deep and rich voice, riddled with malice and cruelty.

Both Sora and Sekou turned around to see a tall, cloaked figure, standing upon the back of a vicious looking flying monster creature. The black trench coat- an Unknown's uniform- flapped in the suddenly chilly wind. Sora stiffened once he recognized him as a member of the Organization, the ones who tried to steal his memories.

**.:Flashback:.**

_Sora found himself in a swirling white mist. He felt as if he had been asleep for a thousand years. Still groggy, he didn't mind the mist. It was almost comforting. Though sandy beaches and turquoise waters would have been much more suitable. But why?_

_'I'm from a tropical island' he thought, or was it said? His mind was foggy and everything seemed so unreal, so unnatural._

_The walls of wherever he was began to move and slowly open, causing the white mist to dissipate gradually through the cracks. Sora realized that he wasn't standing but floating in the misty air. But as the walls open up even more, he felt the weight of gravity increasing slightly every second. Suddenly the walls dropped down all together and Sora's numb body fell out of the container that was holding him. He found himself staring at a pair of sandaled feet on an ivory floor from a rather messy heap._

_"Good to see you're awake now," said the voice of the owner of the sandaled feet. The voice registered something in Sora's more-awake mind. 'Where have I heard it before?'_

_He tried to sit himself up and realized with a jolt he couldn't move his body. Panic began to fill his mind. The most he could do was adjust his head slightly to see a blonde girl about his age kneeling beside him._

_"Don't worry," the blonde girl said kindly, "It's just a bit of an after-effect of being in that container for so long. It'll be better in a few hours."_

_A name came to Sora's mind. "Namine?"_

_Namine smiled. "Good, your memory's returning!"_

_Sora blinked. "My memory?"_

_The blonde girl giggled and helped sit Sora up. "It'll all come back to you after you've had a good night's sleep. Save all your questions for tomorrow when I can explain things better for you, Donald, and Goofy."_

_Remembering the names and their owners almost by instinct, Sora nodded in response. He did feel very tired…_

_The next morning, Sora remembered everything that happened since as long as he could remember. Destiny Islands, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, the Keyblade, Kingdom Hearts, his adventures to other worlds before the catastrophe in Castle Oblivion, and of course his time in Castle Oblivion. The Keyblade Master found himself lying on a comfortable mattress in the white room he woke up in a few hours ago. He was glad to find he could move properly now, too._

_"Gosh, Sora, you're always the last one to wake up!" It was the familiar, heavily lisped voice of none other than Donald Duck. He was standing, tapping his foot irritably on the white floor, his staff in hand. Next to him, though much taller was Goofy, still long and lanky, and holding his trusty shield. Slightly behind the two was Namine. It looked as though they were talking while he was sleeping._

_"It's not my fault a certain duck never decides to wake me up," replied Sora, as he stood up. A minute later, the teen found himself being smothered in a gargantuan group hug with Donald and Goofy. "Ack! Guys you're choking me!" yelled Sora playfully for he too was happy to see them again. Namine sighed and giggled at the trio._

_Once the reunion was done, Namine explained to Sora, Donald, and Goofy about how much time has passed since they were placed into the containers. Apparently it had been three months since she had agreed to help restore their memories. She gave them what news she could gather from the outside world about the Heartless. Even with Kingdom Hearts closed, there were still vast armies of heartless attacking the worlds and strange white monsters have been appearing, too. From what she had gathered, they were called Nobodys. And no word had been heard of Riku and King Mickey. Also, near the end of their talk, Namine handed Sora a wrapped package._

_"Here are some new clothes for you," she explained. "You've grown in the past three months, those old ones of yours aren't going to last much longer." Sora accepted the gift and began to examine his new, darker clothes._

_A few days later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved good-bye and thank you to Namine as they stepped through the portal that would transport them to Traverse Town._

**.:End of Flashback:.**

Sora continued to glare at the Unknown. "Are you with _them_?" he asked in a barely contained voice. The Unknown didn't respond, but Sora could tell he was smirking under his dark hood.

"And if I am?"

Sora smirked. Summoning the Kingdom Key, he said, "It's my job to rid the Universe of the likes of you!" He then leaped off the edge and out to the dragon riding Unknown. He glided a bit to make sure he'd reach his destination. Not that he actually got that far. The dragon- since that was the only thing he could call it- flapped its mighty wings, creating a strong gust of wind that blew Sora and Sekou, who was preparing to leap after Sora, into the wall. Sekou barely had a chance to grab Sora and roll out of the way of the dragon monster's powerful jaws as it attacked with its vicious ten-inch fangs. All the time, the Unknown was standing idly on the dragon's back, not seeming to move as the beast moved about.

The dragon continued to attack and Sora and Sekou continued to dodge until Sora had the sense to swing his keyblade at the monster's nose. The dragon backed off, its snout bleeding, which gave Sekou a change to pull out the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper. He failed to notice the surprised- and slightly suspicious- look on Sora's face.

"Ah, Sekou!" exclaimed the Unknown. "It's been what? Two years since I last saw you. Larxene was awfully unhappy when you left. Why don't you try and cheer the brat up and come back?"

Sekou stiffened up, "I left the Organization because they've become corrupt. You and Larxene are no different, Axon."

Axon, the Unknown, chuckled again. "Good to see you still have your _memory_ intact, don't you say Key Bearer?" he said looking directly at Sora, who had visibly paled. The dragon arched its long neck in preparation for another strike. Only this time, orange sparks were seeping out from the small gap in its jaws. Anyone who had ever heard of the stories about fire-breathing dragons would've known what this meant. Fortunately, the two teens had heard of the stories and (in Sora's case) had experienced it first hand.

The pillar of red fire was no less intense than the dragon Maleficent's. Both Sora and Sekou had evaded the worst of the attack, but it did not make the extreme heat any cooler. Sekou could feel it blazing past his back, the heat causing him to sweat like a snowman in hell. The back of his shirt fried a little even.

The blaze stopped and Sekou jumped to his feet only to be pulled back by Sora as the thick and very powerful tail whipped past where the blonde was half a second ago. "Thanks," he murmured. Sora nodded in response.

"Have any ideas on how to get at him?"

Sekou thought second. "I think one of us can distract Axon and the dragon while the other gets in close enough to attack."

Once again, Sora nodded. "Okay. I'll distract the lizard. You go in." With that the brunette dashed to the dragon and attempted to slash again at its already bleeding snout. The dragon wasn't stupid enough this time to get hurt so it retaliated by nearly biting his arm off. The keyblade, though, got caught in the monster's jaws. A red glow began to form within the dragon's mouth. As an act of desperation, Sora casted the first spell that came to mind.

"Stopaga!" he shouted. Immediately, the dragon froze up in time. It didn't help much with the fact that the keyblade was still jammed in its jaws, but for those few seconds, Sora was able to make a quick, impromptu plan on how to get out of this mess. The stop spell finally wore off and the reddish glow continued to grow (hey that rhymes!). This time Sora was ready and fired a Blizzaga spell in the mouth. The fire was extinguished, but the dragon's mouth open and a roar of aggravation that nearly deafened the young Keyblade Master. Once again Sora attempted to cut at the dragon's head. This time he stuck one of the dragon's eyes; the dragon thrashed its body every which way. Axon, the Unknown, was actually forced to jump off in order to avoid injury.

Sekou managed to avoid any harm during this whole time. He was very near to Axon when Sora caused the dragon to berserk. When Axon jumped off the dragon, Sekou was forced to backtrack to where Axon had vanished. So all in all, the blonde had evaded injury but had yet to corner Axon.

"Come and fight me, Axon!" Sekou called out. No response but, he saw the figure of the Unknown standing on a nearby building. His hood had fallen off revealing spiky green hair streaked with silver and fierce golden eyes outlined in thick black paint that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Axon the Dragon master's face had been uncovered.

Sekou found himself smirking. "You haven't changed a bit," he observed.

"Neither have you," replied Axon, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

The two were in a staring contest it seemed. Sekou's grip on his keyblades tightened. Axon seemed to produce a halberd from nowhere. Several seconds had passed and neither of them had moved an inch.

"ARGH!"

Sekou whipped his head around to find the dragon monster soaring high in the air…with Sora clinging on to its tail with one hand. The other was stretched downward in his direction. _'Where's his keyblade!'_ That question was answered as something whizzed past the blonde and up to Sora. The something was his keyblade. Behind Sekou Axon stood slightly hunched over, cradling his bloody arm. The strike raid had struck home.

"Watch your back!" he shouted to the blonde.

He spun around just in time to block a brutal swing from Axon's halberd with the Oathkeeper. With the Oblivion, he attempted to slice the unknown in half. He countered by sidestepping the attack. Sekou then tried another attack by freeing the Oathkeeper and creating a scissor-like cut with both keyblades. To dodge this, Axon merely leaped into the air. Bad move, for then fireball from Sora's firaga spell hit him in the side.

The enraged Unknown called something in a foreign language up at the dragon whose tail Sora was currently clinging to. At the signal from its master, the dragon whipped its tail with such power and force, Sora's hands lost their grip. Sekou watched in utter horror as his look-a-like seemed to fall in slow motion into the shadowy depth that was once the streets of Twilight Town. The brunette's sapphire eyes were wide in a sort of crazed fear. It seemed like forever until he vanished into the darkness.

"With the Keyblade Master gone, what will you do now?" asked Axon mockingly. Sekou's turned white with their steely grip on his keyblades and his teeth clenched together in fury.

"I'm gonna kill you, Axon!" he declared. "First my family. Then my friends. And now Sora. I'm not going to allow you to kill anymore innocent lives!"

The furious blonde dashed at the still-smirking Unknown, a golden light surrounding his form. Axon tried to defend himself from the onslaught of prevailing blows. Sekou, it seemed was invincible for the moment; his attacks were stronger than they had ever been, and Axon's halberd inflicted no injury on him. But as soon as the light faded, the blonde was back to normal. The Dragon Master saw this and dealt a bloody slash across the teen's chest.

Sekou stumbled back. Axon then punched him in the stomach hard. The wind knocked out of him, Sekou fell down, breathing hard. He looked up and saw Axon towering over him, a triumphant smile on his features. _'This is it…'_ he thought to himself, preparing for the deathblow.

Only it never came. A sudden sound, like pewter bells in a cavern (sorry for the lame analogy), and a roar from the dragon, distracted the malicious Unknown, Axon. Sekou looked up and saw a strange site.

The dragon was still there, but it seemed to be fighting another flying creature. Strange it was. A giant bird with feathers of an icy blue shade soared above. The breast feathers were white and a long tail of blue trailed behind like a banner. He couldn't see its face very well from his position, but he caught a glimpse of fierce ruby-colored eyes.

"Articuno! Ice Beam!" called the familiar voice of…

"Sora!"

Sekou could now see the youth riding upon the bird's back. Alive an din one piece.

Articuno, the summoning spirit of the Icy Crystal's Ice Beam hit the Axon's dragon in the chest area. The beast was forced back. Once again, scarlet flames were seeping from its mouth. Articuno blocked the fire attack with another Ice Beam. The two were in a deadlock of elements for several minutes before Articuno broke it and shot forward; the sharp talons were merciless against the dragon's protective scales. But the dragon had its comeback, for it too had ferocious claws. There was a flurry of azure feathers and blood before the two once again separated.

While this was happening, on the ground, Sekou and Axon had resumed their battle. Sekou had somehow managed to roll away from the halberd-wielding Unknown, gaining a chance to return to his feet and heal himself. Not a second later, Axon came at him. The two heatedly exchanged blows; attack, parry, repeat.

It seemed Axon was gaining the upper hand when suddenly Sekou would overpower him and the process would be repeated again. Above them, Sora, Articuno, and the dragon continued their intense aerial combat.

"It seems I have been underestimating you, deserter," said Axon, breathing heavily.

"Or you've been getting lazier," retorted Sekou, blocking another assault from the halberd.

"Could be," said Axon in mock thoughtfulness.

Just then, there was a crash and the ground beneath their feet seemed to vibrate. It quickly passed, and Sora and Articuno could be seen perched triumphantly on the carcass of Axon's dead dragon. Axon let out a yell of frustration; his dragon was dead and the battle was turning in his favor. Sora leaped off Articuno's back and thanked the oversized bird. It responded by making that strange sound Sekou had heard earlier.

"Now," said Sora brandishing his keyblade and eyeing Axon, "why don't we finish this fight up, eh, Sekou?"

Smirking, Sekou agreed. "Yeah, don't you agree, Axon?"

The Unknown, who had by now regained some of his cocky attitude, smirked. "You think you can win now just because the Keyblade Master is here? Well think again, brat, both of you together could never defeat me!"

Suddenly, another voice, a woman's (spoken with a thick accent), interrupted. "Ze Bozz vantz you back at ze 'ead quaterz. Stop mezzin' vith zeese chil'n, Axon!"

Axon sighed. "You always ruin my fun, Zeena." The woman, Zeena stepped out from the shadows. Like Axon, she wore the black Organization coat with the hood pulled up to hide her face. Axon turned to the two Key Bearers, "You've been fun to fight, brats. I promise we'll finish this up in the future!" And he, along with Zeena, vanished in a portal opened by the Unknowns.

Sora sighed unhappily. "I never get to have any fun!"

This caused Sekou to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean flying around on that bird wasn't fun?" he asked with slight sarcasm.

The brunette Key Bearer grinned in his goofy way and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah that was _awesome_! But I really wanted to kick that Unknown's ass! He won't be so lucky next time!" he yelled punching his fist in his other hand.

"You're really full of yourself, you know," Sekou said jokingly. Sora stuck his tongue out at the blonde. "You're just jealous you don't have a cool summon like Articuno!" the brunette replied.

Eventually, Sora looked over the edge of the Clock Tower and down at the streets of Twilight Town. "We need to seal this world's Keyhole if we want the flow of heartless to stop," he said examining the heartless-flooded boulevards.

"How do you do that?" asked Sekou. "Yeah we found it before Axon came, but I don't exactly see any holes for a key."

"Watch and learn, naïve one," said Sora in an exaggerated superior voice.

He summoned his keyblade, the Kingdom Key, and pointed it at the center of the giant clock. Light gathered at the tip of his keyblade as it did on the clock face. A narrow beam of light then connected the two glowing lights. The clicking sound of a locking door was then heard. "And that," said Sora, "is how you seal a Keyhole."

**.:Later:.**

"So Sora," asked Kocha, "are you going go find your friends tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah," replied the brunette lying down on a makeshift mattress of extra blankets. The fight with Axon and his dragon had taken a lot out of both Sora, summoning Articuno and all. Sekou was also zapped of energy; he was currently fast asleep on his cot of a bed. After all he was fighting head on with the dragon master. Both were completely healed, thanks to Sora and his magic. "And then I'll get to work on clearing out the heartless."

Kocha nodded and laid down on his own bed of blankets. Haru and Sakura were asleep, too. In a few minutes, Kocha also joined them in slumber. Sora stayed awake for hours. He was exhausted, but restless at the same time. To relax himself, he imagined he was lying on the sandy beaches of his home and the turquoise waters were lapping gently at his bare feet. Above him, he pictured a quarter moon, shining overhead along with millions of stars like diamonds on rich, navy blue velvet.

_Riku and Kairi were on either side of him. Just like when they were fourteen, before the heartless tore them apart._

_"I wish we could stay like this forever," whispered Kairi. The other two had to agree. Everything seemed so perfect, so peaceful…_

_"Nothing as good as this ever stays, though," said Riku._

_"That's why we have to enjoy every moment of our lives. Down to the last second," Kairi replied. "So that when it goes away, we'll still have the good memories of it."_

_"Yeah…" sighed Sora. "When they go away…"_

**Anne: **and now for some notes from me….

I bet a lot of people are going right now "how could she put Pokemon in this!" well the truth is 1) Articuno would make the perfect summon, 2) pokemon was one of the first anime shows I fell in love with (along with DBZ, Sailor Moon, and Digimon) so it always had a special place in my heart, 3) Articuno has always been one of my favorite Pokemon and I could easily picture Sora riding on its back. So if you have a problem with it, don't wet your pants cuz that's the only thing related to Pokemon in this whole fic.

Secondly, I apologize for almost all of my chapters ending w/ cliffhangers. It the easiest way, but I tried to steer clear of that this time.

Thirdly, this is the first actual battle scene I have ever written so if it's bad, pleez give me some tips in your reviews.

Fourth: when I wrote about Sora waking up in the white room, I was trying to tell what happened after Castle oblivion and before KH2. I haven't played CoM so if I get my facts wrong, I'm sorry.

And finally…Fifth: I am now currently stuck in a writer's block for chap. 6. I f you have any ideas or suggestions, pleez tell me in your reviews. I plan to have Sora & co. leave for a new world in chap. 7.

Thank you. DxC


	6. A Day in the Life

**Anne: **sorry it took so long. I was having a serious case of writer's block and I was editing one of the earlier chapters and in the end I had to delete the whole story and repost all the chapters…SORRY!

_**No poseo Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**_

**Chapter Six: _A Day in the Life_**

The next morning, Sora was the first to awake. The fifteen-year-old was expecting to hear Goofy's loud snores or Donald's sleepy squabbles, which Sora believed to be snores. With a slight pang of guilt, he remembered that they were still somewhere out in the wilderness of Twilight Town, while he was safe and snug in the Clock Tower.

He crawled out of his makeshift bed and walked out onto the balcony. It was still dark out with a tinge of light on the horizon. Out there, Sora watched the sunrise. To his surprise, the sky still looked like the afternoon sky and not that of the morning.

"Isn't it the morning?" he asked no one in particular.

"It's always nighttime or dusk in Twilight Town. The sun sets and rises on the same horizon," said a certain blonde look-a-like. "Weird isn't it?"

Sora, who had nearly fallen off the balcony in surprise, agreed. "At my home the sun would rise in the east and set in the west. The sunsets there were always the best…" the brunette trailed off, his sky blue eyes distant.

Sekou looked at the youth and sighed deeply. "You miss your home, don't you?"

"Yeah. But I've stopped trying to find it ages ago. I already have enough things to find at the moment. More important things." _'Like finding Riku and king Mickey,'_ he thought to himself.

The blonde looked at Sora with understanding. "I never knew what my real home was like. I grew up here in Twilight Town since I was like three. I had foster parents; I never knew my real ones. Though once, they took me on the train to Traverse Town to try to look for them. No luck, though."

_'Poor guy,' _Sora found himself thinking. _'Never being able to know what your real home and parents were like.'_ Suddenly he remembered Donald and Goofy. "I'm going out to find Donald and Goofy," he said as he walked down the stairs. Sekou was still in a reminiscing daze and didn't notice until Sora halfway down the stairs that he was leaving. "Hey I'm coming with you!" called the blonde, joining the other teenager at the base of the stairs.

Outside, the boys saw an empty street. "Where are the heartless?" Sekou found himself asking.

"Waiting for us," replied Sora simply, walking down the steps that led up to the Clock Tower. As he walked down to the small cul-de-sac, a group of heartless appeared. It was of the more basic kind, consisting of Shadows, Soldiers, and a couple of Darkballs. Sora and Sekou quickly dispatched them and continued on.

Throughout the city, the boys encountered more odd groups such as that. With the sealing of the Keyhole, most of the heartless had fled and only some of the weaker ones stayed behind. Sora's goal was to eliminate enough heartless so that they would only appear at night. Then the major threat would be gone.

"What about after that?" Sekou asked as he and Sora worked their way down Main Street.

"Then Donald, Goofy and I leave to another world," he explained. "There are other worlds out there that are in need of help. We usually stay until the heartless are weak enough to be dealt with by that world's inhabitants alone."

"Oh."

**(Castle Chapel, Hollow Bastion)**

"Aizu! How could've you let the siege been lost!" Maleficent shouted at the only other being in the room with her.

"The Keyblade Master met the Dual Wielder. It is that simple," answered the woman, Aizu. Most of her features were hidden under a deep purple hood and cloak. All that one could see is a long braid of ebony hair trailing out from the hood. "The Keyhole was sealed."

Maleficent growled in frustration. "The Organization interfered, too."

"It would've been more helpful if their agent had managed to kill the boys," said Aizu, her voice soft and calm.

Maleficent shook her head. "No. We need them _alive_ along with the Keeper. Ansem would not want it any other way."

There was silence for several minutes until Aizu spoke. "You know the Dual Wielder was part of the Organization for some time?"

"He broke away a couple years ago," replied Maleficent. More silence until Maleficent started walking out the doors towards the Great Hall. "Aizu, I want you to keep an eye on the boys. You are in charge of capturing them."

"Are you going to turn your full attention on finding the Keeper?" asked the mysterious woman.

"Yes. You are dismissed."

Aizu bowed. "Yes, Mistress." She then vanished in a swirl of dark smoke.

**(back in Twilight Town)**

"Donald, Goofy!" Sora was calling out as he and Sekou continued their search for the missing duck and dog. "Heeeeello?" So far, they weren't having much luck.

The brunette had climbed up on a pile of barrels tied together with rope to keep them from rolling away and was scanning the area from up there. Meanwhile Sekou was trying to look in through a window that was set up higher than he was tall. So one could see him jumping up and down, his blonde hair bobbing slightly.

"Doooooonald, Goofieeeeeeeee!" Sora continued to call, unaware of the ropes tying the barrels together unraveling. "I wonder where they could be?"

"Somewhere?" suggested Sekou helpfully. By now he was clinging to the windowsill and dangling from it. The look-a-likes soon had a nasty shock.

SNAP

"Whoa!" yelled Sora ion a manner suggesting shock as the barrels began to roll under his feet. The teenager fell forward onto solid ground though he was forced to get up again as the barrels started rolling downhill towards him and Sekou, who had joined the brunette in the middle of the street.

Now remember, Sora wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and neither was Sekou (though he's a little smarter), so the first thing that came to his mind was…

"RUNAWAY!"

The escape from the barrels chased the two look-alikes down the never-ending street (as it seemed to be) until it opened up to Main Street. Sora and Sekou leaped out of the way and off to the side as the barrels rolled past them and smashed on a wall of a building across the street.

"That was close," said Sora matter-of-factly.

"No, duh," sighed Sekou at Sora's simple-mindedness. He looked up at the sky to find the sun setting on the horizon. "We should make our way back to the Clock tower now. The sun's setting."

Sora nodded in agreement and, with Sekou, walked up Main Street to where the Clock Tower was.

Donald tapped his foot impatiently on the ground while Goofy sat enjoying the sunset. Both of them were sitting on the steps leading up to the Clock Tower waiting for Sora to show up.

"He says he'll meet us here and then he doesn't show up…" the wizard was mumbling to himself.

"But I _did_ show up. You just weren't there when I was," said none other than Sora himself, who had showed up just seconds ago with Sekou.

"Who's he?" asked Donald as soon as he noticed the blonde, a suspicious look in his eyes.

Goofy took the time to look between the two teens and pointed out, "Gawrsh, Sora, he looks a lot like you!" he exclaimed, causing a sigh from both the blonde and brunette look-alikes.

"Thank you for pointing that out, Goofy," remarked Sora with slight sarcasm. "Anyways, guys this is Sekou. Sekou, the short one is Donald and the taller one is Goofy." He pointed to each respective person as he said their names. "Great now we all know each other, I'm starved!"

The Keyblade Master hopped up the last few steps with Sekou, Donald, and Goofy in tow. Inside, more introductions were made between Donald and Goofy and Sakura, Haru, and Kocha. And once everyone was settled and had a rather pathetic dinner of chips and Twinkies, which Sekou had stashed away in his room, Sora left to go lie down saying he had "a tiring day." No one stopped him, but Donald and Goofy exchanged odd looks.

Awhile later, Haru, Sakura, and Kocha all went off to bed, too. The only ones awake now were Donald, Goofy, and Sekou who sat in stony silence.

"Why did you two look so worried when Sora went to bed earlier?" asked Sekou, who could no longer take the tense stillness in the room.

Donald said nothing and continued to glare at the blonde who glared right back. Goofy looked back and forth between the two, mentally debating whether or not to say anything.

Eventually, Sekou sighed and looked away. "Fine, you don't have to tell me," he said irritated. "I'm going to bed now."

The topic of Donald and Goofy's worries wasn't brought up at all during the next week and a half. By then, the combined efforts of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Sekou had the heartless cleared out completely. It was now safe for Haru, Sakura, and Kocha to leave the Clock Tower and return their own homes.

One day, the seven companions (since Sekou and Donald didn't count each other as 'friends') were going out for lunch. They went to a ramen stand at the request of Sakura. It was quite good in Soras opinion, if only he could figure out how one was supposed to eat with those damn chopsticks! **_(Dedicated to AuroraMoon101)_**

"Goofy, we need to get some supplies before we leave," Donald said quietly to his old friend after lunch. Sora was up ahead arguing with Haru over who was better looking.

"C'mon, guys," sighed Sekou. "We all know _I'm_ the best looking of you all!"

Sakura sighed and smacked the blonde on the back of the head as Kocha caught a mysterious cough. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I look _way_ better than you," the brunette stated.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

"You guys look almost exactly alike," interrupted Kocha, now his 'coughing fit' had ceased. "So neither is better looking than the other. In fact, I think you both tie for last place."

Before the look-alikes could object, some older, giddy high school girls approached.

"Are you like twins?" asked one of the girls as they all giggled madly.

"No…" they replied at the same time, causing the girls to giggle even harder.

"Are you sure?"

"If we were, I think I would've been living with him then," said Sora a little annoyed.

Donald, who was fed up with the annoying, giggly, ditzy, _flirting_ schoolgirls, snuck up behind them and squalled as loud as he could. This caused the girls to scream and run away.

"Thanks, Donald," said Sora, chuckling lightly. "I was afraid they would just tie us up and throw us in a closet."

"Like what Yuffie did to you once?" said Goofy.

Sora winced. "Yeah...kinda like that."

The others started laughing even though they had no idea who Yuffie was. "I wish I could've seen that," sighed Sakura, still giggling.

After the schoolgirl incident, Sora, Donald, and Goofy broke away from the group to shop for supplies since they would be leaving soon. Sekou offered to show them the nearest items shop. Donald wasn't too thrilled, but he also knew that Sekou knew his way around town. Begrudgingly, he accepted.

Sekou knew Donald didn't trust him. It wasn't really a big secret. He was pretty sure Sora, Goofy, and the others were also aware of the tension between them. Whether it was because he has a similar appearance to Sora or that one argument they had when they first met, Sekou did notice Donald get even more distrustful when he saw the blonde wield the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper. Well, Sora was curious about that, too. But in truth, Sekou couldn't explain it either; he had one and Sora had one that was almost exactly the same. _'Answers will come later,'_ he thought.

In the meantime, the group of four had entered the items shop. Sora was debating with himself on whether or not to buy a lot cost-efficient potions, or less but more expensive hi-potions, which were stronger. What a dilemma…

Sekou was idly examining a bottle of Elixir, when he heard two people arguing as quietly as they could in the next aisle.

"C'mon, Donald. You know the stress is a building up on him. How much longer will it be until he snaps? He's only a kid and we need all the help we can get." It was Goofy's voice for sure. Sekou could recognize it anywhere.

"I don't care," said Donald's voice, it was more agitated than usual.

"It cant' do any harm. I haven't seen him this happy in months. He deserves to have a break and spend some time with people his own age. After what happened and all at Kingdom Hearts, I-"

"Shhh! Don't mention that place!" hissed Donald. Sekou could almost picture him looking back and forth to see if anyone was listening.

"We could ask him about it," suggested Goofy.

"Later," mumbled Donald.

Where they talking about Sora? Kingdom Hearts…hadn't his teacher mentioned it before?

_"Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds. According to the late King of Hollow Bastion _(1)_, all of our hearts were born there."_

Those were the words of his teacher.

"Yoo-hoo! Earth to Sekou. We're leaving now," said Sora, waving his hand in front of Sekou's spaced out face. "I think he died, guys."

"I'm not dead."

"Sure you're not."

"Der, Sora," said Goofy, "if he's talking, doesn't that mean he's alive?"

The Keyblade master pouted. "Is _everyone_ against me today or something?"

"Yup," said Donald, Goofy, and Sekou all at the same time. Sora sighed.

Much later, Sora, Donald, goofy, and Sekou were back at the Clock Tower. The trio decided to just stay there rather than pay to rent a hotel room. Sekou had shut himself up in his room and had been in there for well over an hour. Goofy was taking a peaceful nap in a corner. So, technically, Sora and Donald were the only ones in the room.

"Er, Sora," started Donald, not exactly sure how to say it, "how would you feel if we added another person to our party?"

"Dare I ask who that person is?"

Donald sighed. "You know who, you big palooka. Isn't it obvious?"

"With you, no," chirped Sora grinning playfully.

"Well, Goofy and I just wanted your approval. That's all," the duck huffed. "But you know, could you ask him for us?"

"No problemo!"

**(the next day)**

"Hey Sekou! I have a question ask to you!" called Sora the next morning.

The blonde in question grunted in response. He didn't get much sleep last night due to horrible nightmares. They were of _that day_.

"Are you okay?" asked Sora noticing the dark rings under his friend's eyes.

Sekou nodded. "Yeah, just couldn't sleep last night. That's all." He yawned. "So what is it that you wanted to ask to me?"

"Oh, right! Would you like to join me, Donald, and Goofy to go save the worlds from Darkness and doom and all that stuff that comes along?" he asked, cerulean eyes sparkling with hope and excitement.

"You mean like leave here and everything I know and love behind to go with you guys?" he said slowly. Sora looked away, but nodded. It was the hard truth of life; sacrifice all that you know to help others.

"I have to think about it."

And he walked out of the Clock Tower alone and silent.

* * *

(1) "_According to the late King of Hollow Bastion…_" By the time this quote was said, Hollow Bastion had been overrun by heartless and everyone thought the ruler (Ansem) was dead. 

**Anne: **like I said, I'm sorry it took so long to update. Besides the whole fiasco w/ my accidental deleting of the story, I had major writer's block. It was really painful and strenuous to write this chapter. But at least I'm done now. Yay!

**Ashley: **Anne would also like to thank all the reviewers (before and after the deleting) who reviewed. She keeps them all close to her heart. But sadly she can't do any personal responses like usual cuz they were all deleted along with the story.

**Shiro:** Special thanx to **_AuroraMoon101_** who requested the Ramen idea and for pushing Anne to finish typing the chapter.

**Anne:** What Ash and Shiro said. Now don't worry the next chapter should be posted sooner since I already have it written but not typed. I'm shooting for this Friday. So pleez _review_ because it makes me feel good, and when I feel good I write more.


	7. Ghost Town: Sekou's Story

Thank you everyone for reading my story even if you didn't review! Because this chapter took so long to write, I won't respond to any reviews. It doesn't mean I don't love you! It just means I can't respond at this current time.

Also, please note this chapter is going to be written slightly different from the other chapters for reasons that will be revealed soon.

_This chapter contains some elements that people may find disturbing_

* * *

**Chapter Seven: _Ghost Town: Sekou's Story_**

"I have to think about it," said Sekou and he walked out of the Clock Tower.

He walked to the one place he always went to when he needed to think. No one would ever think of looking for the blonde there, seeing as it is the resting place of the demons of his past.

Silently, he slipped past the rusty iron bars of the gate and weaved between the cracked headstones bearing long lost names of old. He came to a stop at one particular marker. It was not very big, only rising two feet from the ground, and was covered in cracks and moss.

Sekou brushed the dead vines off the surface revealing the name of who had been laid to rest here. _Akari Suzuki_ and her date of birth and death, which was some eight years ago. To everyone she was known as Mrs. Akari Suzuki, wife of Mr. Ashita Suzuki, but Sekou, she was only known as…

"Mom…" he whispered.

Sekou's POV 

I was raised in Twilight Town for as long as I could remember. My mom and dad told me that they found me in an abandoned alley when I was three. They said all I could remember from before was my name, Sekou.

For four years, I was the adopted son of Mr. And Mrs. Suzuki. I made great friends, went to school, and raised hell wherever I went. I didn't worry too much about my past, where I had really come from, who my birth parents were; I was happy and perfectly content with life. That was until I turned seven and the world seemed to have crumbled down around my ears.

It was just after sunset one day in late summer. I was walking home from Haru's house after spending the whole day with him. When I arrived at my house, I knew something was wrong.

All the lights were off and the window was broken. Half of me wanted to run away and call for help, another half wanted to go inside and see if my parents were okay. Making my decision, I opened the door.

Inside, everything was pitch black. I felt around for the light switch and turned it on. The sight I saw was horrific. Blood was splattered everywhere. On the floor, on the walls. I realized the light splashing noise was from me walking through the puddle of blood.

My insides squirmed uncomfortably; I thought I was going to be sick. Cautiously though, I explored the rest of the house. In the kitchen was once of the worst sights I had ever seen my entire life. On the tiled floor in a pool of his own crimson blood was my father.

Or at least his body. His head was nowhere to be found.

Slowly, I sank to my knees, unable to comprehend what was going on. Just this morning he was alive and happy. Dad was going to take Mom out for the day, which is why I was at Haru's. I was too dazed to realize someone had roughly grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Sekou!" my mother hissed in my ear. "Why are you here? You need to get out quickly!"

The look on her sweaty face was that of fear and anxiety. In her soft grey eyes I saw the kind of maternal instinct that a mother had when she knew something was wrong.

We heard footsteps in the house. "You need to hide, sweetie."

She grabbed my hand and raced upstairs to the master bedroom. She locked up the door and then pushed me into the mahogany closet that held her best clothes. Before she closed it she looked me directly into my eyes and said,

"Whatever happens to me, stay in here. Stay hidden."

"Mom…"

Something pounded against the bedroom door.

"Someday, Sekou, you'll find your real family," she continued, teas beginning to fall. "The road will lead you to your home. Don't waste you life dwelling on the past. It does not do one any good." She pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed me on the cheek. "I know you'll grow up to do great things. Remember that I love you."

She then shut the closet doors. Just then the bedroom door burst open. My mother tried to fight Dad's killer, but to no avail.

From what I could see from the tiny crack off the closet doors, the killer had Mom, pinned down on the bed. He ripped her clothes off and then undressed himself. I couldn't understand what was going on but Mom thought that it was bad for she began to panic and struggle even more. The man only seemed to laugh cruelly and thrust himself into her. She screamed and she cried painfully.

It went on like that all night. Sometimes he would turn around and stuff it in her mouth or do other disgusting things like that. I tried as hard as I could not to look but my body was paralyzed and my eyes glued to the scene. All night I watch my mother get raped for endless hours. At dawn my mother could not scream for she had lost her voice hours ago as the man pulled out a knife and stabbed it into her forehead. Her body went limp instantly.

The man then got off of Mom and dressed himself partially. Once or twice I thought saw him glance at where I was hiding. Quite suddenly he dashed at the closet and swung open the doors revealing me sitting there, pale as a ghost.

"How did I miss this?" he said, sending chills up my spine. Whoever this was, he was dangerous. He killed Dad. He killed mom.

I struggled to escape him by thrashing and swinging my arms. Screaming, yelling, and kicking didn't work and I recall I tried to bite him, which was futile.

The man grabbed my arm roughly and slammed me against the wall. "Shut up, you little shit!" he roared at me. When I refused he struck me across the face. A trickle of blood seeped out of a small cut appeared on my cheek where his abnormally sharp nails had scratched me. I quieted immediately, but couldn't help but whimper slightly as the cut burned painfully.

The man slammed me against the wall, a hand around my throat. He smiled devilishly as he watched me squirm in his grip.

"It's not very good for little boys like you to be watching things like that is it?" he cooed like I was five. When I didn't answer his grip tightened. "Answer me, brat!"

Even if I did want to answer I couldn't. I couldn't even really breathe at the moment. I began to get dizzy.

The man's face got closer to mine. "Well now, I'll just have to teach you a lesson," he cooed nibbling on my earlobe and licking the stinging cut on my cheek.

Several warning signals went off at once. A creepy psycho murderer rapist is going to molest me and the fact that I can't breathe in enough air were the major ones. The world was spinning too fast and I seriously felt like I was going to puke.

'Please don't let him do what he did to Mom to me'

Then very quite suddenly, I fell hard onto the ground. The body of the man slumped down onto me, oozing fresh blood all over me from the giant hole in his chest. In front of me stood a tall man in a black trench coat. The hood was down and I could see his spiky silver hair and nearly black eyes. His right hand was covered in the other man's blood.

The silver haired man grabbed the corpse off of me and tossed it carelessly across the room. He continued to stare at me like he was sizing me up. Fearfully, I gazed back. My body was shaking violently and next thing I knew, I was heaving up the last meal I ate. Then the world blurred.

In my mind, Mom's rape and murder kept replaying over and over like a broken record player. When I actually regained conscience, everything was different.

I woke up on a comfortable cot. It was too dim to make out any distinct features of my surroundings but someone must've heard me awake. The same silver haired man who saved me before was suddenly at my side. I began to scoot away but the man held up his hands and said,

"Peace. I don't have any intention to hurt you, kid. I'm not at all like that other guy."

He was referring to the killer. He then smiled brotherly and continued,

"By the way, if you need my name, I'm known as Saxon around here. You got a name?"

I hesitated at first then replied, "Sekou." My throat felt dry and scratchy, like I had been yelling myself hoarse. I gestured to my throat with a questioning look at Saxon. He merely nodded and handed me a glass of water.

"In case you're wondering, you've been out for nearly a week now," he explained as I downed the glass. "Sometimes you'd be all quiet and still, like you were dead, y'know? Then randomly you'll be screaming and yelling and thrashing about. I've met some pretty bi-polar people before, but never a bi-polar sleeper."

An uneasy silence fell upon us after he was done raveling. Saxon cleared his throat and shifted nervously. "Well I guess we just have to take you to the Elite for evaluation. And a name. That's important too."

Though I was curious about what the Elite are and this evaluation and the whole name thing, I didn't ask. I just didn't have the will to ask questions or do anything. I just felt like lying around and grieving. Well Saxon wasn't that kind of person. He was constantly in motion and seemed to brighten up any room he was in. So naturally he couldn't stand me being like I was.

"Okay Mr. Depressed," he said, "I suggest you do something about your hair 'cause we're going to go see the Elite now. So up, up, up!"

He literally pulled me out of the cot and attempted vainly to tame my wild hair. Meanwhile I noticed I wasn't wearing the same clothes I was wearing before. I looked at Saxon in confusion.

He shrugged. "You're old ones were covered in blood. My bad."

I simply nodded as we began to walk in the halls of… well wherever we were. Along the way I saw a few other people dressed like Saxon in long black coats. Finally after many twists and turns we came to a set of double doors. Saxon knocked and the doors opened. Inside was what resembled a courtroom with the raised seats curving around the center of the room, which was where Saxon and I stood. Up in the raised seats were thirteen people, mostly men, in the same black coats as everyone else. Some of them had their hoods up to cover their faces while others kept theirs down.

The man in the center of the thirteen and probably the leader looked down on Saxon and I with his probing violet eyes. "State your business, Saxon," he said.

Saxon straightened up as he was addressed. "I'm here to have the boy I saved, Sekou, evaluated."

The leader fixed his violet eyes on me and stared soul searchingly into my own blue ones. A few minutes passed and he broke contact and turned to whisper a few things to his companions. After a brief discussion with them, he turned back to us and smiled kindly. "The boy has been evaluated and he is allowed to stay. From now on he shall be you apprentice, Saxon."

Someone up in the Elite interrupted. "But he still needs a name, Aixwe," a woman said.

The leader, Aixwe, once again gazed down at me with those soul-searching eyes. "His name shall be…**_Xen_**."

The others nodded in agreement. "Welcome to the Organization of the Universal Order, or the Organization if you wish to call it that."

Normal POV 

"Who was she?"

"Hn?" Sekou shook himself from his revere. He hadn't meant to space out like that.

"Who was that person?" Sora asked again pointing at the grave of Akari Suzuki. "Was she important to you?"

Sekou nodded. "Yeah, very important."

He stood up and dusted off his pants. Looking at the headstone he sighed. "You remember your offer from earlier?"

Sora nodded, slightly confused. "Yeah?"

"I think I'll take you up on that," the blonde said, looking around at the graveyard around him. "I need to get out of here. Too many ghosts dwell here."

Sora smiled his big goofy grin and nodded. "Alright!" he said punching the air with his fist. "First thing tomorrow morning we take off. Pack what you need. See ya round!" And he dashed off to the Clock Tower, leaving Sekou alone again.

"Well, Mom," he said sadly, "I guess this is good-bye."

The blonde could've sworn he felt someone wrap their arms around him and kiss his cheek lightly. He smiled sadly. "Don't worry I remember. I always will."

Then he turned around and walked back to the cemetery gate. Once he reached there, he looked back and saw her waving to him, smiling but crying at the same time.

He blinked and she vanished as if she was never there. Sighing, he returned to the Clock Tower. Meanwhile Akari looked on with pride.

_I knew you would always do great things, Sekou.

* * *

_

Well nothing to say except that now the story really begins!

Once again, thanx to all the reviewers! I do not feel worthy of your compliments! Special thank you to Ashley for pushing (and threatening) me to finish writing this chapter. If it weren't for her I would've started another new story and forgotten this one.

(Gives an entire collection of Naruto manga to Ash)

Umm… yeah. Chocolate for everyone who reviews cuz I know this was a kind of depressing chapter.

**Next Chapter 8: Intro**

_"It'll be like last time!"_

"_Do you know these people?"_

"_This is bad. Very, very bad."_


	8. Intro

**Aoki-chan:** Thank you everyone for your kind reviews.

**Ashley the Editor:** Now here's the part where we thank the people who did review.

**_Laurel-_** awww… Thank you! I really like how your story is turning out! Don't you dare discontinue it!

**_KHobsessed-13-_** (huggles the moogle plushie) Thank you so much! When people say nice things like that it makes me fell all warm and fuzzy inside.

I have a feeling that there were more reviews for this chapter but I think they were accidentally deleted. I'm very sorry to the people that weren't mentioned. I still love you all!

**Aoki-chan:** Now I think I will proceed on with the story! Oh, I got this great idea from **_Shang_** (he ((I think he's a guy)) is writing a totally awesome story in the Naruto section. Check out _Naruto: Next Generation_). What he's been doing is for every chapter he writes a description of what the chapter cover is. (Think manga or Japanese comics.)

I think this would be an excellent idea for a contest. See the end of chapter notes for details.

Chapter Cover: _Sora is seen looking up and smiling from an angled sky view. He is wearing his KH 2 outfit and has the Ultima Keyblade resting on his shoulder.

* * *

_

**Chapter Eight: ****_Intro_**

"I have dibs on being next pilot!" Sora called out randomly.

It had nearly been an hour since he, Donald, Goofy, and Sekou left Twilight Town. An hour had passed with Sora's childish immaturity, though it seemed more like eight.

Sekou idly wondered, as Sora pestered Donald, how they all put up with it. He noticed that when he wasn't trying to save the world, Sora was always smiling and cheerful.

'How can someone with such a burden be so… childish?' he thought.

The blonde himself tried to keep an upbeat attitude throughout his years since that tragic day. Sometimes it would be easy and other times he could barely refrain from frowning, knowing the pain he brought to other people. Sakura once pointed out that he was never one to drift off into those contemplative silences when they were younger, before he left Twilight Town.

He never told any of his friends that he witnessed his foster parents murder and was swept away to another place. He made sure none of them would ever know of his deeds while in the Organization…

Goofy cast an uncertain glance at Sekou. The blonde had gone into a contemplative trance as he fiddled with a blue marble in his hands.

_Flashback_

_"Sekou?" Sakura asked, timidly knocking on his bedroom door._

_"Yeah?" came his reply._

_"Can I come in?"_

_"Sure."_

_She opened the door to find her friend's room in a complete mess. Which was surprising since Sekou didn't own very many belongings. On his "bed" was a half-packed duffle bag. Sekou himself was digging through a large wooden chest, flinging out extra blankets, old Twinkies from God knows how many years ago, and some old clothing. Finally finding what he was looking for- a black trench coat- he turned his attention to Sakura as he continued to pack his bag._

_"Did you want to see me?" he asked._

_"Are you going somewhere?" Sakura crossed her arms unhappily. "Are you going to leave us like last time?"_

_Sekou looked at her sadly. "I have to."_

_His heart was tearing when he saw the tears building up in her mahogany eyes. Part of him wanted to tell her that it would only be for a short while, but he didn't want to lie to her. Who knew if he would **ever** be returning to Twilight Town?_

_Sakura shook her head furiously, the tears beginning to flow. "No you don't! Eight years ago you vanished without a trace. Your parents were dead and the police started thinking that either you killed them and ran away or that you were kidnapped and was later killed. Do you know what affect that had on Haru, Kocha, and I? Haru's mother shot herself because she thought it was her fault **you** were dead! Haru became depressed and we were all forced to go to therapy because of **you**. **You** gave us five years of pain and misery because **you** were off somewhere else!"_

_"That's why I have to leave," he said indifferently. Oh how he hated saying these things to her!_

_She just stood there crying. It was as if she knew she couldn't do a thing about it. It broke Sekou's heart into a million pieces._

_Stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her as she tried to back away, pulling her closer to him. There she bawled into his chest, dampening his shirt._

_"Don't cry, Sakura. You're only making harder for both of us," he tried to comfort. "You still have Haru and Kocha. Not to mention the rest of your family. It's not like you're losing everything."_

_"It'll be like last time!" she sobbed into his chest. "We won't have any idea if you're dead or alive or anything!" She continued to cry._

_He let go of her and crouched down slightly so he could see her eye to eye. "You know…" he said poking her on the forehead, "I think you're doing all this to yourself 'cause you know you're a drama queen."_

_Sakura crossed her arms stubbornly, a pout on her face. "I **am not** a drama queen!"_

_"Sure you're not…"_

_Somebody placed something in his hand. He looked down at it and saw a sky blue marble resting in his hand. Sekou looked at Sakura in confusion._

_"Take it with you. That way, at least you'll have a piece of home with you."_

_"Thank you, Sakura…"_

_End of Flashback_

Sekou was suddenly jerked out of his reverie, as well as his seat, as the gummi ship's speed increased considerably.

He grabbed hold of a pole and pulled himself up.

"What's going on?" he shouted to the cockpit.

He heard Goofy reply somewhere behind him, "Sora's driving."

The ship began to spiral. It took all of Sekou's strength to not loose his grip on the pole and go tumbling around the ship's cabin.

In the cockpit, Donald was squalling at Sora for his childish antics. The brunette wasn't really listening to his duck friend's complaints as he spotted Heartless ships. There weren't many so he tried another stunt.

Sekou and Goofy wondered what was going on in the cockpit at this time. The super speed and the spiraling had stopped, so what was Sora up to now?

The two entered the cockpit and saw Sora, with a look of concentration on his face, driving straight at a heartless ship. Donald was behind him fuming.

Behold the game of Chicken.

Dead silence filled the pit as the heartless ship approached ever so closer. Just before the two ships collided, Sora fired a cannon at the enemy ship, blowing it to trillions of tiny pieces.

"Ha, ha! Sucker!" he laughed. Donald smacked him on the head with his staff.

"Alright! Alright! I won't do it again, I promise!" he whimpered as the duck scolded him (and banged him on the head a couple times).

Sekou shook his head, trying to hold in the laughter.

"I'm so abused!" Sora whined later.

"Der…uh, Sora, isn't that a world up ahead?" asked Goofy, pointing to a nearly completely white world up ahead. At the top was a magnificent red palace with a glowing city surrounding it. Along the equator was a large mountain range. And near the bottom of the world, was a patch of green and some tiny white specks, a camp of some kind.

Sora landed the ship in a forest on the outskirts of the camp. Everyone got out and surveyed the area.

All around them were trees and bamboo. There was also a particularly large rock that had voices coming from behind it. Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Sekou all peeked around it to see the source of the noise.

"Mushu?" Sora gasped. Stepping out into full view. "Hey, Mushu! Is that you?"

A tiny red lizard-snake thing…er a dragon perked up from his perch on the young soldier's shoulder. (try saying that five times fast).

"Eh?" he said. He saw Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Sekou and grinned broadly. "Hey Sora, what's up?"

The young soldier turned to look at the unexpected group of strangers. A suspicious look flashed across her face as she asked, "Mushu, do you know these people?"

Sora immediately noticed the way the voice started out higher but quickly deepened, almost as if it were being disguised. The soldier's body looked curvier than a man's, more like a woman's, but the armor made it hard to tell.

The dragon, Mushu, turned his attention to the soldier. "Why yes I do. Let me introduce you."

He gestured to the group of four. "The brunette is Sora, the duck is Donald, and the tall one is Goofy. I fought with them for a short time. I have no idea who the new kid is-"

"Sekou," the blonde said.

"-but everyone this is Mu-"

"Ping," said the soldier quickly. "Nice to meet you, but I really have to go now. Let's go Mushu."

Ping stood up, brushed himself off, and, with Mushu still on his shoulder (though looking very dejected about being cut off), headed down towards the camp Sora and the others saw earlier.

"Wait," called Sora running after them, the others following. "Can you take us there? We can be of some help."

Ping looked Sora head to toe. "I don't think, unless you can take out the whole Hun army with one swing, you can be of any help to us."

Mush whispered something in Ping's ear and Ping whispered back a comment. After what sounded like a quite dispute, Ping finally said to the group,

"Okay, I'll take you there but I'm not sure how the captain will react to you. We can't exactly have Mushu explain everything to him."

The odd group slowly began to approach the camp. Everywhere, people, more soldiers to be exact, were hustling and bustling taking down tents, packing supplies, and getting ready to move out.

Mushu, who was hiding in Sora's shirt, was explaining that the regiment was moving out to reinforce another general who had gone ahead to fight months ago.

Most of the soldiers stopped and stared at the unusual group, especially at Donald and Goofy and their…different appearances.

Finally, the odd group came to a larger, more ornate tent than all the others. Ping was about to pull aside the flap when it was suddenly thrust aside. Out stepped a tall muscular man in war armor and a red cape billowing behind him. Directly behind him was a skinny man dressed in blue robes carrying a wooden board for writing on and a writing brush. He had a snobbish air about him.

"Ping, who are these strangers?" the armored man demanded.

"They say they can help us, sir," Ping replied, suddenly very nervous.

"How so?" he said suspiciously looking Sora up and down.

"We're warriors," Sora said. "Sir," he quickly added.

The skinny man in blue began to laugh as if Sora had told the funniest joke in the world. "Do you really expect us to believe that? You're only a boy! An let me guess, the duck is a dragon in disguise?"

Mushu made a muffled indignant snort.

Donald also seemed offended by the remark. He marked right up to the snob and would've probably whacked him senseless if Sora hadn't held him back.

The brunette gave an uneasy laugh as if to try to lighten up the situation.

"So, uh, can we be of any help?" he asked uneasily.

The armored man once again looked Sora up and down. He got the distinct feeling that those intense eyes were sizing him up again.

Finally he said, "Fine, but you are now Ping's responsibility." He said to Ping, "If I hear about them causing any trouble, it will be _you_ who pays."

He then turned and vanished into the tent with the snobby man at his heels.

Ping gave a great sigh of relief. Apparently, the whole ordeal had him all psyched out. Sekou cracked his neck.

"So what do we do now?" asked Sora as they walked through the rows of tents.

"We eat. We train. We wait," Ping said.

"But what about fighting the bad guys and stuff? Isn't that what you do in war?" asked Sora, is insular intelligence showing through once again.

"You knowledge of war seems to only be based of of what the texts say," Ping sighed.

"War isn't just going out and fighting the bad guys, Sora," Sekou said. "Actually usually there's more waiting than fighting a lot of the time.

"And plus, this camp is mostly just the rookies, first timers, you know? There's a chance that we won't even see any fighting for months or even the whole war," Ping explained.

Sora didn't say anything. It was so much different from the 'war' he was caught in the midst of. It seemed to him that the war between Light and Darkness was all about fighting, but now that he looked at it, as far as he knew, in 'his war' there weren't any organized armies. In Ping's war, there were two armies, China and the Huns. He concluded that since his war wasn't 'organized', it didn't wait for orders from a higher authority like Ping's to move out or fight or whatever.

Sore tried to think about it more, but he began to confuse himself so he dropped the thought.

Eventually, Ping introduced them to Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, his fellow soldiers. Yao was a short, heavyset man with a heavy mustache and sported a black eye; he had a temper to go along with it, too. Ling was a total opposite of Yao. His face was smooth and he was tall and thin; he was somewhat of a wimp as Mushu (secretly) pointed that out right away. Chien-Po, he was big…but he was very mellow and kind. He made Sekou think of a giant teddy bear. (A/N- sorry I had to put that!)

After introductions were made and it was near dusk by now, Ping showed them his tent. It was more separated from the others, and definitely shabbier than the others. The only problem was that it was a one-person tent.

"It's okay, really," Sekou said. "We're perfectly fine sleeping outside."

"Yeah, I can sleep anywhere!" Sora added. Donald mumbling something like "…and through anything, too."

"Der, uh, I have no problem sleeping outside," Goofy also said. "We can look at the stars out here."

Donald nodded his agreement. "We've slept in all sorts or places before, out side on the grass will be like a cloud to us."

The others nodded in agreement.

"If you say so," Ping finally said. "At least use some of these blankets."

He handed them some extra blankets. The group of four took them and settled down on the grass. Ping then went into his tent.

He waited in there, pretending to fall asleep until he was sure that the others were asleep. Then, he snuck out with a towel, and with Mushu, Crick-ee, and Khan (the horse) to the lake just outside of camp.

"I still don't think is a good idea, Mulan," Mushu whispered in the young soldier's ear.

"Just because I have to look like a man, it doesn't mean I have to smell like one," _she_ whispered back, her voice more feminine.

**(The morning after)**

"Wake up, wake up!" Sora heard someone saying.

"Nughhhhh….?" he groaned. Did he really have to get up?

"I don't wanna…"

"Too bad." He heard as someone pulled his blanket -his soft, warm blanket- off him.

"Hurry up!" he heard another person say. It was Ping. "We're moving out!"

* * *

**Aoki-chan:** Right, I'll try to update faster from now on, but I can't guarantee any specific dates. Um… yeah here are the rules for the chapter cover contest I mentioned earlier….

_Rules:_ Basically you just need to write a description of the picture you envision for a "chapter cover" for any of the chapters # 1-7. Anyone who reads manga will get what I'm talking about.

Be sure that the cover has some relevance to Kingdom Hearts. Also, for so far, there aren't really any pairings being shown so I ask that you don't submit any covers implying a pairing.

(Just because one of your submissions doesn't show up, it doesn't mean I won't use them. There is a high possibility that I will use them later in a more appropriate chapter.)

Okay, as for the submissions themselves, you can submit **one** cover for **every** chapter. It has to be somewhat related to KH, blah, blah, blah. Please submit it to me in a review

Yeah…. If you want to, you're more than welcome to email drawings of your ideas or any fan art.

I'm done ranting. Happy (Very, very, very, very, very Belated) New Year!

p.s.- don't forget to review!


	9. Fight With Honor

_**Chapter Nine: Fight With Honor**_

Cover: _Sora is dressed as a ronin samurai and holding a katana. On the back of his haori (jacket) is the kanji for 'honor'._

"How long have been marching?" Sora asked for the zillionth time. No one responded. They haven't for quite some time actually. 'I'm not _that_ annoying, am I?' he thought to himself.

In truth, he probably was, but the marching soldiers, Donald, Goofy, and Sekou were too tired to yell at him (though they entertained happy thoughts of shoving a shoe down his throat.) In the meantime, they ignored him, hoping that he will shut up sometime soon.

As the hours past, so did the days. It took several days to reach the mountain range. Along the way the soldiers talked about "the benefits of being a soldier" to keep up their optimism. Namely, the girl they're fighting for.

For the most part, Sora found it hard to grasp that most of these soldiers were only in this for the money or the women, not really the whole concept of saving the people that he had gotten used to over the past year. But then again, the emperor _did_ force one man from every family to enlist.

"Well, it's hard to grasp that concept when you're forced to sign up," Sekou said when Sora told him his thoughts.

"I didn't have much choice in this either," he replied, referring to the keyblade and the heartless.

"Neither did I," the blonde countered. "But everyone is different. You could say it was the circumstances that we were under when we were all dragged into this."

Then he walked ahead slightly so that he could talk to Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, who had once again began dreaming of the girls they'd get as war heroes.

'Wonder what his "circumstance" was,' Sora thought as he gazed at the picturesque snowcaps. 'I wonder what everyone's are…'

So engrossed he was in his thoughts, that the brunette didn't even notice that the soldiers had stopped marching until he ran into Chien-Po from behind.

"Why are we stopping?" he asked. Then he smelt smoke. Something was burning, wood and… what was that foul stench?

He peered around the wide soldier and grimaced at the sense of dread building up inside him. Wooden frames tainted black from burning fire stood as solitary skeletons as smoke riddled between the preserved wooden bones. The once pure snow was stained with crimson blood, the essence of life. Some structures were still burning with hot, glaring flames.

Scattered in the snow were broken arrows, fallen swords, burning flags, and crushed helmets. Lone relics of a battle like that of ancient lore.

There was an eerie silence. Every sound -the crackling of orange flames, the crunch of footsteps in the snow- was muffled as if a thick blanket were wrapped around them, suffocating all noise.

"Look for survivors," Shang ordered.

Immediately, they spread out, searching desperately for a lone, beating heart. Sora felt tension so thick in the air that he bet he could cut through it with a knife. He heard whispers in the wind, the same frigid wind that tickled his exposed skin in mockery. The whispers turned to howls; screams of terror and panic and cries of pain that threatened to drive him insane. A small chaos of death and suffering was flaring-up inside the youth's mind. (1)

He knew that there were no survivors.

A short distance away, Sora saw his blonde companion murmuring a prayer of some sort in a mystic tongue. He appeared very focused on what he was doing.

The ghosts' howls didn't seem quite as loud any more.

"What was that?" Sora asked Sekou. The brunette's voice sounded slightly shaky.

The blonde regarded the destructed village with a mask of indifference on his face, but with tremendous sorrow in his sapphire eyes. "A prayer for the souls of the dead," he relied with a heavy voice, and he said no more. An incredible sadness was in his eyes.

At this time, Donald and Goofy approached. Both of them had expressions of deep grief on. "No survivors," Donald said.

"Gawrsh, this place sure is creepy," Goofy said, peeking over his shoulder, as if he expected to see someone standing behind him.

They wandered back to the main group, who was once again moving out, leaving behind a small memorial to a fallen general and father.

The 'visit' to the village had left everyone in a somber mood. No longer did Yao, Ling and Chien-Po speak boisterously of glory, instead they bowed their heads and marched in a melancholy fashion.

Awhile later, the events took a surprising twist.

The army was marching along in their grim mood when suddenly a rocket went off in the wagon, blasting a hole through it. The rocket landed somewhere up the rocky face of the mountain. Mushu and the 'lucky' cricket, Crik-ee could be seen with guilty and surprised faces.

Shang came galloping back demanding what had just happened.

"What just happened!" he demaned.

Ping could only stutter a few "Uhs…" before Shang silence him. Everyone looked up to where the rocket had hit earlier. The smoke was beginning to fade and silhouettes could be seen.

Suddenly a volley of ignited arrows rained down upon the unexpected soldiers. A few caught the wagon on fire; immediately everyone rushed to save the explosive rockets inside. Sora grabbed two and ran after Chien-Po, who was carrying about ten.

Everything was happening as a blur to him, so caught up in the mêlée he was. Next thing he knew, the wagon had blown up and everyone was setting up their rockets and firing them at where the arrows were coming from.

"Hold the last cannon," Shang ordered as the smoked cleared.

Up on the ridge a lone silhouette emerged. It was Shan-Yu, leader of the Huns, and his army. His army vastly outnumbered Shang's soldiers as they began to charge down the slope. Mingled in the mass, Sora spied out heartless here and there.

(A/N: I'm writing this part purely by memory from the movie, so sorry for any screw-ups)

"Draw your swords." Shang said. "If you die here, you die with honor."

There was a metallic whistling as they drew their swords. No one noticed Sora and Sekou's keyblades make their appearance.

"Aim for Shan-Yu," Shang ordered to Yao, who had the last cannon.

In a flash, though, before the rocket could be lit, Ping shoved him aside and grabbed the cannon and ran up the slope, towards Shan-Yu. There was a moment of brief chaos before a loud bang signaled the rocket being fired. Sora saw it hit a huge peak of ice and snow not far away. Briefly he wondered what must've gone through Ping's mind for him to waste the last rocket and miss the target. ("You missed! He was three feet in front of you and you missed!" Mushu could barely be heard shouting as he flew away with the rocket.) Sekou, on the other hand, saw right through Ping's plan, having pulled a stunt similar to this some time ago.

"Run!" he shouted to the others, who were simply standing there like idiots as the wall of ice and snow rushed down the slope, sweeping up anyone unfortunate enough to be caught up in it.

The Imperial soldiers (minus Shang and Ping) all managed to squeeze behind a rock conveniently shaped so that the downhill facing side was completely safe from the pseudo avalanche Ping created. Sora, Sekou, Donald, and Goofy all managed to run to some large cliff-rocks and climb up them for safety, though their feet were partially submerged into the snow.

Meanwhile, Ping, Khan (the horse), Mushu, Crik-ee the lucky cricket, and the unconscious Shang, unable to resist the flow of the avalanche, were forced over the edge, literally. Luckily, Ping caught an arrow shot by the now woeful Yao, who thought he had failed them, and fired it back. Yao caught it, but t took all of the soldiers to pull the horse and two humans up (and Mushu and Crik-ee).

…And for that I owe you my life," Sora heard Shang say to Ping as he and his companions approached. "From now on, you have my trust."

"Ah!" Ping gasped as the wound in his side flared up with pain as he tried to stand.

"Get a medic someone!" Shang ordered, to Ping he said, "Hold on. It wil be alright."

Hours later, as the sun began to set, the doctor finally emerged from the shabby tent that was being used as a makeshift hospital. Shang, who was pacing worriedly outside, listened to the whispered words of the doctor, words, which none but he heard.

Sora watched curiously as Shang entered the tent without a word. Next to the brunette, Sekou had begun to doze off. Sure, he was worried about Ping, but there was nothing he could really do at the moment, so why not sleep while you can? Abut him Donald and Goofy were quietly discussing something in hushed tones so no one could hear them.

"I knew there was something wrong here!" Chi Fu was suddenly heard shouting.

The pompous man stormed out dragging Ping by the wrist, shortly followed by a despondent looking Shang. "Look, a woman."

There was an audible gasp from the soldiers as he threw Ping, a woman in truth, on to the snow-covered ground.

"My name is Mulan," she said.

"What's so wrong with her being a girl?" Sora asked ling, the closest person by.

"Women aren't supposed to fight in the army," he responded. "It's high treason and it dishonors the army. The punishment is death."

* * *

**Author's Notes About the Chapter**

I was trying to do a little bit of Stephen Crane (_the Red Badge of Courage_) style writing with a lot of analogies/ descriptiveness, a lot happens mentally, but not a lot happens physically. It was fun to write even if I did fail miserably.

I'm not particularly proud of this chapter, but it has some highlights, I guess. The last part was difficult to write, but I managed to blunder through it somehow.

I am most definitely wrapping up the _Mulan_ world next chapter.

I'm thinking of having more made up worlds than I originally planned to, so if you want to feature any of your own OC's or even worlds, send me a description (appearance, personality, fighting style, dialect, etc.) via review.

0000

Oh, joy! I finally get around to writing! Let's see, these past few weeks have been horrendously busy. And my birthday was on February 26th, so the festivities got in the way too…not really, but yeah…it's been nearly 2 months so I can't really use that excuse can I? Sigh. I'm sure you can sympathize with me, _right?_

Please review. (puppy dog eyes)

0000

P.S. Oh yay! KH2 is finally out! I'm so happy. But right now I'm stuck with fighting Demyx in Hallow Bastion. How can you kill ten forms in ten seconds! I'm sad, huh?

Oh, yeah, it's had its memorable moments, too. Like Atlantica…oh sweet oil of olive I laughed so hard there, and in Port Royal when Will and Elizabeth are making out. ("Sora, why is your face turning red?") Oh, and how can you forget Land of Dragons? ("Play nice you two!")

My friend says I have a twisted way of thinking at times. I just like to think that all Sora's been dreaming of while he's been asleep is Kairi, so his head is still in the gutter.

And I've been officially dubbed a Roxas fangirl. You have to love him with all those emo-depressing things that keep happening to him…_**I LOVE ROXAS!**_


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